NAINITAL | Feb 02, 2016: The Uttarakhand government or the NGT may have imposed a ban on mining in several eco-sensitive areas, but the state mining department is lagging behind in collecting fine from the defaulters. In Nainital district alone, the department has been able to collect only Rs 29 lakh of the Rs 15 core fine imposed for illegal mining activities in the past two years.
In their defence, the mining department officials have said that notices have already been issued to those who haven't deposited the fine. Rajpal Legha, deputy director, mining department, told TOI that the department has sent notices to at least 32 defaulters. "Since most of the violators have taken their cases to higher authorities, the process of collecting fines has slowed. However, we are actively involved in recovering the penalty amount," he said.
The sluggish pace of recovery can be attributed to the delay in judgement in a particular case. After the matter is decided by a higher authority, the penalty amount comes down drastically, often from crores to lakhs, said a mining company employee who requested anonymity. "A mining unit was Rs 6 crore in 2014 and the amount was slashed to Rs 44 lakh by the time the case was over," he said.
In a similar case reported by TOI in August 2015, four stone crushing companies were fined a whopping Rs 8.05 Crore by the district administration and the mining department under various sections of Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act 1957.
The fine was imposed after an inspection team found gross violation of norms. In addition, the amount of riverbed material mined by them was far more than permissible. The officials of the mining department then claimed that that action will be taken against companies if they fail to deposit fine within one month. The case is ongoing and officials said that the final amount of penalty could be quite low.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)