Disclose Instances Of Illegal Mining In State, Action Taken Against Such Breaches: Uttarakhand High Court To State

The Uttarakhand High Court directed the State to disclose the instances of illegal mining in the state and the actions taken against such breaches.

“The State should disclose in its affidavit to be filed within two weeks the instances of illegal mining by the licensees, which have come to light, and the nature of action taken in respect of each of such breaches, in the entire State,” said Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal.

On the next date, the Secretary, Mining, the Director, Mining, Government of Uttarakhand, and the District Mining Officer, Pithoragarh shall remain present in Court during the hearing, the Court further directed.

The directions were made while hearing a PIL that highlighted the instances of illegal mining in Pithoragarh and sought action against such breaches.

The Court noted that the DM has stated, that whenever a complaint about the illegal mining or illegally felling of trees, and road cutting in the forest area is received, action is taken.Consequently the actions were also taken against the respondents K N Pandey and Gagan Bahadur.

On this the Court said, “We find the attitude of the District Magistrate and the Divisional Forest Officer to be complacent, to say the least. It appears that there is no proactive measure taken by the authorities concerned.”

The bench noted that a complaint was received by the authorities on May 10 and the inspection was carried out on May 11.

“Despite the aforesaid incident being brought to the notice of the authorities, illegal mining and road cutting appears to have been undertaken yet again,”it observed.

“There is no explanation as to what steps were taken to prevent the report of the said illegalities,” the bench added.

It further observed that, “The authorities cannot wait for an illegality to take place and act after the incident involving illegal tree cutting and road laying in forest areas has taken place, since the damage caused to the environment with such illegal action, is long lasting, if not irreversible.”

While noting that even though authorities have found that respondent K N Pandey has breached the license the Court said, “It is surprising” that the license has not been terminated.

“Mere imposition of penalty, in our view, is not the solution. There has to be an effective deterrence against any misadventure by the licensee, who carries on illegal mining, or commits any other serious breach of the terms of the license. Else, the licensee would continue to breach the terms of the license by carrying on illegal mining, and would willingly pay the penalty when the illegality is discovered, as the penalty is not likely to fully account for the illegally mined mineral,” the Court observed.

The Court directed the District Mining Officer of Pithoragarh to present the mining license granted to Pandey, along with all the relevant rules and regulations, before it.

While posting the matter to July 18, the Court said, “On the next date, the Secretary, Mining, the Director, Mining, Government of Uttarakhand, and the District Mining Officer, Pithoragarh shall remain present in Court during the hearing.”

Case Title: Neema Waldia v. State of Uttarakhand & others

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