Overview

• The Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee found USTM built on encroached forest land without central approval, noting that 13.62 of 15.71 hectares of constructed area qualifies as forest within a roughly 25-hectare site.
• The panel proposed stopping all non-forestry activity at the campus and restoring the occupied area and surrounding buildings to forest within one year, using penalty funds to remove illegal structures.
• Citing rampant violations, the CEC urged suspension of all mining, quarrying and crushing in Ri-Bhoi until a MoEFCC-led team reviews permissions and safeguards, with 30-day deadlines for digital mine maps and reappraisal of clearances or automatic shutdowns.
• Meghalaya was told to form an expert committee within a month to harmonize forest-identification criteria and to finalize a state definition within six months, supported by a public digital registry and geospatial evidence where sites are already disturbed.
• The report called for a restoration plan for the Basistha–Bahini and Dighalpani watersheds under MoEFCC oversight and a May–September moratorium on major earthworks with mandatory buffers, retaining walls, de-siltation and soil-conservation measures.