“Caused Damage To Parties”: Madras High Court Imposes Cost On Former MP For Filing Plea Against Mining Without Proper Research

While doing so, the bench of Chief Justice KR Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy also imposed a cost of Rs 4 Lakh (Rs 1 Lakh for each petition) for filing the petition without proper research. The court directed the cost to be donated to the Little Heart Training Centre for Intellectual Disabled Boys in Dharmapuri District.

“Though we may not say these petitions were filed for extraneous consideration, undoubtedly, it has caused damaged to various parties. Therefore, we direct petitioner to pay a sum of Rs.1.00 lakh in each writ petition, totalling to Rs.4.00 lakh (Rupees four lakh only) as donation to Little Heard Training Centre for Intellectual Disabled Boys (Regn.No.555/2023), No.167/1A-4-A, Gundalapatty Village, Hale Dharmapuri (Post), Dharmapuri 636 701. This shall be paid within four weeks,” court said.

Thamaraiselvan had approached the court challenging the notification issued by the Dharmapuri District Collector in the newspapers inviting tenders for 17 areas for quarry lease under Rule 8A of the Tamil Nadu Minor Minerals Concession Rules 1959 without following the directions in the Government Order issued by the Ministry of Mines in 2020.

Thamaraiselvan argued that as per the Government Order national interest required all States to get pre-embedded clearances for the mines which are ready for auction to promote ease of doing business and to expedite the auction process. It was also submitted that the Central Government has directed the State Government to follow the guidelines for pre-embedded clearances annexed with the order and implement the same in letter and spirit.

The State, however, argued that the lease of quarries to private persons in respect of granite was dealt with under Rule 8A of the Tamil Nadu Minor Mineral Concession Rules 1959, exercised under power conferred by Section 15 of the MMDR Act. The State submitted that the state government had followed all the procedure prescribed in the rules.

The court noted that the issue raised in the petition was under the domain of the State Government and the State rules did not prescribe for any pre-embedded environmental clearances. The court also noted that as per the State Rules, the environmental clearance had to be obtained only after confirmation of the auction and the issuance of precise area communication by the government to the successful bidder.

Thus, finding no merit in the petition, the court decided to dismiss the plea. While dismissing the plea, the private respondents submitted that crores of rupees were invested by them which was stuck because of the petition. Thus, taking into consideration the damage that was caused to the private parties, the court imposed costs.

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. C.T.Mohan Senior Counsel For Ms.M.Geetha Thamaraiselvan

Counsel for the Respondent: Dr.D.Simon, Mr.P.S.Raman Advocate General Assisted by Mr.Stalin Abhimanyu Additional Government Pleader, Mr.K.Srinivasamurthy, Mr.K.Ramanamoorthy Central Government Counsel, Mr.K.Subburanga Bharathi Central Govt. Standing Counsel, Mr.P.R.Raman Senior Counsel For Mr.Ashwin Premsundar, Mr.V.Raghavachari Senior Counsel for Mr.S.Tamil Selvan, Mr.Abudu Kumar Rajarathnam Senior Counsel For Mr.S.Ashok Kumar, Mr.Srinath Sridevan Senior Counsel for Mr.P.S.Prabu

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 466

Case Title: R Thamaraiselvan v. Government of India

Case No: W.P.No.4110 of 2021 etc. batch