Allahabad | Sept 04, 2015: In a bid to track suspected illegal mining, the Allahabad High Court has directed District Magistrate of Fatehpur to install CCTV cameras at the supposed transaction point for the illegally mined minor minerals brought from Banda district. The court has also directed the DMs of both Fatehpur and Banda to carry out inspection and find out the extent of illegal mining going in their respective districts, if any.
The court has fixed September 19 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
A Division Bench of Justices Arun Tandon and Sunita Agarwal passed the order in this regard on Wednesday, while hearing a PIL filed by Durga Shankar, through his counsel Mohit Kumar Shukla.
The PIL had alleged that many lease holders for mining of minor minerals were violating several norms, including use of machines for excavation, and sought action against such operators, as well as officials responsible for allowing such activities. During the last hearing, the court had sought affidavit from the DM of Fatehpur on the issue.
The court said: “Affidavits filed today on behalf of the District Magistrate are taken on record. It has been stated before us that the illegally excavated minor minerals from the mines in district Banda are being transported to district Fatehpur and the common point of intersection is police station Lalauli; We, in the larger interest, issue following directions: (a) CCTV cameras be installed at the intersection at police station Lalauli, Fatehpur, within seven days from today. Movement of all the vehicles at the intersection shall specifically be recorded therein, (b) The District Magistrate, Fatehpur and Banda shall get spot inspection done of all the mines qua where there is a subsisting lease as on date and shall satisfy themselves as to whether any machines are lying in the vicinity or near the plots which could be used for excavation or not, (c) Similar, the District Magistrate, Banda, may visit the places where alleged illegal mining has taken place.”
The court directed the two DMs to submit a report by the next date of listing in the matter.
Earlier, the petition was turned into a PIL by the bench hearing it, taking into consideration the larger environmental issues involved. This PIL was objected to by many lease holders, particularly Prakash Chandra Dwivedi and Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, who filed impleadment applications, which the court had allowed. A few other lease holders also filed similar applications.
Their primary objection to the PIL was that it was being filed at the behest of a person, who was running an illegal mining gang. They also claimed that the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had given them permission to use machines for excavation purposes.
However, the petitioner had pointed that clause 7 of the lease deed permitted use of excavating machines, which was completely illegal.
The Division Bench, led by Justice Tandon, however, pointed out that the permission was granted only after the Additional Advocate General had submitted that the controversial condition had been inserted due to a mistake. Further, the bench had pointed out that, as per Supreme Court’s directions in Deepak Kumar case of 2010, and subsequent amendments accepted by the Uttar Pradesh governments in 2012, use of machines in mining of minor minerals was not permitted.
(Source: http://indianexpress.com/)