The Patna High Court imposed a cost of Rs. 5,000/- (five thousand) on the Petitioner and dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking to take up cudgels against the mining leases granted by the State.
The petitioner seeks the constitution of an Investigation Team to enquire into the role of the Special State Officials in granting the lease for sand mining to companies and the transporters involved in the mining over the land of the agriculturists situated on the banks of Kamla River including Belhi Panchayat, District- Madhubani.
It is also alleged that there is illegal transporting of earth sand without demarcating the mining area, causing loss to the public exchequer, which activities also are in complete violation of Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulations) Act, 1957.
Having gone through the memorandum of the petition, the Division Bench of Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthy found that there is no specific complaint raised and broad allegations are made of illegal grant of mining leases. Neither the officials who granted the lease are made parties in person nor are the mining companies or the transporters, against whom allegations are raised, impleaded. The Public Interest Litigation is filed without any responsibility and merely based on a representation filed without any details.
“The writ petition is liable to be dismissed with costs, which is quantified at Rs. 5,000/- (five thousand) and the same shall be paid over to the Bihar State Legal Services Authority within a period of two weeks, or it shall be recovered by the Bihar State Legal Services Authority in the same procedure as arrears due on land revenue are recovered”, the order reads.