HYDERABAD | Dec 11, 2015: In view of prevalence of rampant sand mining mafia in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday sought the stance of both the state governments to its suggestion of constituting a high-power committee, headed by a retired high court judge, for taking necessary steps against the illegal mining activity.

“It is not possible for them to monitor the situation. The bench cannot keep aside all other works to resolve these issues. It is time to evolve a permanent mechanism to deal with such elements who are the destroyers of the ecology in a firm manner. There is a need to set up a high power committee headed by a retired high court judge,’’ the bench observed.

The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice S V Bhatt was making this observation while dealing with a PIL case filed by Sunkara Ganga Raju seeking a direction to the authorities to stop illegal quarrying in the sand reach at Prakkilanka in West Godavari district. Usage of heavy machinery by the respondent Prakkilanka sand mining cooperative society has been causing damage to the Godavari river bed, the petitioner pointed out.

Before taking up the PIL case, the bench pointed out that the number of cases pertaining to illegal sand mining were coming up for hearing on every Monday and the Court was forced to allocate its valuable time for hearing these matters. Hence, the Court suggests to have a high- power panel and give it the responsibility of receiving complaints on illegal sand mining activities, violation of rules by the lease holders etc. and to examine into it for necessary action.

While saying that the proposed high-power committee shall comprise the principal secretaries to revenue, mines and geology, environment and forests and a representative of a trust worthy non-governmental organisation (NGO), the bench directed the government counsels of AP and Telangana to get instructions from the authorities and inform the court about the government’s stance on the said proposal by next date of hearing.

The bench further said that it would set timeframe for the proposed committee to deal with each complaint of illegal sand mining and would also think in terms of according powers to the committee to cancel the sand mining licences if the lease holders were proved violating the rules.

As for the PIL case, the joint collector of the district has placed a set of photographs of the mining activity at Prakkilanka sand reach area. However, no report was filed along with the photos to explain the situation.

On earlier occasion, the bench directed the district joint collector to conduct a field inspection and come out with a true picture on the issue. It stayed the sand mining in the area which is still in force.

Pointing out that mere furnishing of photos was not sufficient, the bench directed the joint collector to submit a report along with the photos and posted the matter after 10 days for hearing.

(Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/)