The Madras High Court on Friday directed the State government and District Collectors to make sure that Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras were installed in all check-posts at district and State borders to keep a watch on transport of illegally mined minerals.
Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and G. Jayachandran issued the direction on a public interest litigation petition filed by activist ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy in 2014. He had sought a direction to the government to consider his representations and curb illegal mining across the State.
It was in this case that another Bench comprising then Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul (now a Supreme Court judge) and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan had on September 11, 2014 appointed IAS officer U. Sagayam as a Legal Commissioner to inspect granite quarries in Madurai district.
Subsequently, the case was listed before different benches and it was heard last on March 26, 2019. In the meantime, Mr. Sagayam filed his report with a slew of recommendations and the government reported to the court that most of those recommendations were acceptable to it.
When the matter was listed on Friday, the petitioner’s counsel T. Sundaravadanam insisted on a direction to install cameras in all check posts. Accepting his plea, the judges asked Advocate General Vijay Narayan to make sure that a compliance report was filed by November 9. Justice Sivagnanam told the A-G that in another case being heard by him and Justice C.V. Karthikeyan, they came to know that the State government had collected several crores of rupees in penalty from those who transported illegally mined minerals. “You don’t require any other proof for illegal mining in the State. Huge quantum of penalty collected is a clear indicator. You are stopping transportation but not illegal mining. Mineral resources of the entire State are mapped but if officials close their eyes, nothing can be done,” the judge said.
The senior judge wondered how illegal mining could take place at the first instance in the State when all District Collectors get the assistance of an Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, who keeps track of every small detail related to mines and minerals in the district.
Despite such effective mechanism, places with hills turn into craters in no time, the judge lamented. He said that recently, limestone, too, had been declared a minor mineral and brought under State rule,s thereby increasing the risk of illegal mining.
Limestone quarries
“At least, granite quarries are in the open and we could see their condition with naked eyes but these limestone quarries are usually situated close to the factories and they get cordoned off illegally. We cannot even see what is happening,” the judge told the A-G.
Hema Babu, Special Public Prosecutor for the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), told the court that the police had booked as many as 70 cases against illegal mining in Madurai district, and the ED had also initiated action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Senior counsel P. Wilson, representing a granite firm, told the court that Mr. Sagayam’s report was exaggerated. He claimed that the officer had simply considered the length, breadth and height of quarries to arrive at a notional loss to the public exchequer.
