JAIPUR | May 13, 2015: The Rajasthan high court has on Tuesday dismissed a PIL alleging that the state exchequer had suffered a loss of Rs 2,000 crore in the allotment of cement-grade limestone mines to four cement companies without auctioning them and had demanded a CBI probe into the allotment. The petitioner had also made chief minister Vasundhara Raje a party to the petition.

The division bench of Justice Ajay Singh and A S Grewal dismissed the PIL by Ram Singh Kaswan on the ground that there is no material evidence to suggest that the government did any illegal act in the allotment of limestone mines and that the state had suffered any financial loss on this count.

The court said the process of allotment of mines started in October 2010, almost three years before the present chief minister assumed charge. The law department of Rajasthan government, almost a year before the present incumbent assumed office, opined that there was no provision of auction under Section 11 of Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act 1957.

The then advocate general in his opinion, dated December 2012, had advised the government that the prescribed procedure for granting of mining lease is through a competitive process of inviting applications and that there was no provision of auction for cement-grade limestone block.

The then advocate general in his opinion, dated December 2012, had advised the government that the prescribed procedure for granting of mining lease is through a competitive process of inviting applications and that there was no provision of auction for cement-grade limestone block.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)