Hassan: Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri , who returned to Hassan recently after a legal battle to be reinstated following her hasty transfer by the government, is already kicking up dust .
She has called for suspension of a senior geologist of the Mines and Geology department in Hassan, who allegedly let off an illegal miner on payment of a mere Rs 5 lakh as penalty and taking no criminal action against him as directed.
Sources in the Deputy Commissioner’s said the illegal miner was booked under the law before Ms Sindhuri's transfer and the senior geologist, M V Padmaja, allegedly decided to take advantage of her absence to let him off.
But to her bad luck, Ms Sindhuri returned as DC and on reviewing past files found the action taken against the miner far less than what was originally intended.
Demanding immediate suspension of Ms Padmaja, Ms Sindhuri has informed the Director of Mines and Geology in a draft chargesheet that a surprise check on January 29 this year on the operations of a miner, C K Arunakshi, had revealed that although he had permission to mine green granite over three acres and 20 guntas in survey number 38 in Chigalli, Hassan taluk , he was involved in unauthorized common stone quarrying and crushing spread over five acres and 10 guntas.
During the raid Ms Sindhuri came across 315 metric tonnes of crushed and uncrushed stones, valued at about Rs 3 crore, and directed Ms Padmaja to book cases against the miner under the law. But the officer instead allegedly colluded with the miner, letting him off with a paltry fine of Rs 5 lakh, sources said.
Taking strong objection to this , the Deputy Commissioner has said Ms Padmaja had no authority to close the case without the clearance of the DC, they added.
