Madras high court slams officials for colluding with illegal mining operators
Chennai: Slamming the government officials for colluding with the illegal mining operators and thereby allowed the natural wealth to be looted, the Madras high court has directed the officials concerned to deposit at least a sum of Rs 75 lakh for allowing a mining operator to carry on illegal mining in the unapproved area in Sitharevu village, northern side foothills of Western Ghats in Palani taluk, Dindigul district.
A division bench comprising Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar gave the directive on a public interest litigation, which challenged the permission granted to a mining operator by the Dindigul district collector for quarrying sand in the district, quash the same and consequentially direct the authorities to preserve the water body.
The bench said indiscriminate quarrying operations were said to have been made of mining of earth (savudu soil) has been noticed by the court appointed - advocate commissioner T. Lajapathy Roy in Sitharevu village. At about 10,000 cubic meter of gravel was allowed to be removed and transported from the said field. The estimate of 10,000 cubic meter of gravel has been estimated by the advocate commissioner based on the records produced by the assistant director of geology and mining, the bench added.
The bench said even though extensive indiscriminate mining was done in Sitharevu village, there was no mining permission was granted in Sitharevu village. The mining in Sitharevu village and lifting of 10,000 cubic meter of gravel/savudu soil was entirely illegal since no mining permission has been granted by any of the authorities. The photographs produced by the petitioner himself would show that great amount of illegal quarrying has been done by the persons without any license or permission. The fact that though no permission was granted to any one to quarry in different sites in contravention of Section 4 (1A) and violation of provisions attracts section 21 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, this court finds that officials were also negligent in taking action, the bench added.
The bench said the record produced before this court would show that the transportation of quarrying materials has been permitted till March 15, 2019, as evident from the statistics produced before the court by the authorities.
However, it was also found that a representation has been sent by the petitioner in the month of February 2019 to the Director of Geology and Mining and the Dindigul district collector apart from various statutory authorities including the assistant director of geology and mining, Dindigul. Absolutely, no action was taken though the petitioner has given details about the illegal quarrying by private persons, the bench added.
The bench said the village administrative officers were entrusted to note the illegal quarrying of sand and stone quarrying within their jurisdiction. The VAO of Sitharevu village was expected to report it to the firka revenue inspector who in turn was supposed to report it to the deputy tahsildar and tahsildar who in turn report to the district collector. Even though the revenue officials like, VAO, firka revenue inspector, deputy tahsildar, tahsildar concerned were supposed to report to the collector and the collector also has failed in his duty to take any action despite repeated written representation received from the petitioner.
“From the above, it is clear that there is a deliberate failure and negligence on the part of the officials in connivance with the mining operators illegally and help them to loot the natural wealth of our country without any permission. It is not only loss of revenue to the government but also a theft of our natural
wealth that too under the foothills of Western Ghats, which is a prohibited area. We are facing a lot of problems because of destruction of our natural wealth.
The officials as well as the quarry operators who have done illegal mining have committed offences punishable under section 120 B and 379 IPC and section 21 of Mines and Minerals (Development and regulation) Act. This court finds that the government machinery has colluded with the illegal mining operators and thereby allowed the natural wealth to be looted. Therefore, action is required to be taken not only against the looters but also against the government officials who have colluded with the looters”, the bench added.
