Ranchi, Apr 26 (PTI) Jharkhand High Court Wednesday slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on the state government for failing to file an affidavit in a public interest litigation onalleged illegal sand mining.
The court passed the order in connection with a PIL filed by the Federation of Jharkhand Sand Traders Association.
The penalty was ordered by a division bench of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen.
The court had on March 22 ordered the government to file an affidavit but as it failed to do so, the division bench imposed the cost on the state for non compliance.
The Jharkhand State Minerals Development Corporation (JSMDC) filed its affidavit and informed the high court that strict action is taken against the sand mafia indulging in illegal mining of the minor mineral.
JSMDC in its affidavit said that only 21 sand ghats have proper documentation and license for mining in the stateand that tenders have already been floated for allotment of sand mines in the state.
The tender for mine developer cum operator (MDO) for excavation of sand and its transportation from the river banks to stockyard, loading of sand into vehicles and transportation to buyers has been done.The technical bid has already been scrutinised and the finance bid is due to be opened, the JSMDC affidavit said.
Petitioner’s counsel Vikas Pandey and Piyush Poddar pleaded before the court that illegal lifting of sand from river banks is on the rise.
There is rampant sand mining without following norms causing immense loss in royalty to the government as well as disturbing the ecological balance, they claimed. PTI COR NAM KK KK KK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.