VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday appointed an Advocate Commission to ascertain facts on the claims of the petitioner that TDP leader LVVRV Prasad has mined 150 acres, though he obtained mining rights to mine gravel in 12 hectares (30.14 acres) in Thotapalle village of Agiripalle mandal, Krishna district.
In his petition, Y Ranjit Kumar of Madduru village, claimed that with a non-existent survey number, Prasad secured permission for mining gravel and looted the mineral worth crores of rupees. He appealed to the court to direct the accused to stop further mining.
Justice Rao Raghunandan Rao appointed High Court advocate Aswarth Narayana as Advocate Commission and directed the petitioner to pay Rs 30,000 as expenses. The advocate commission was directed to visit the area, where the petitioner claimed that illegal mining was being carried out and ascertain facts with the help of a surveyor. He was directed to submit a detailed report to the court on May 16, the next date of hearing.
Earlier, presenting their argument, petitioner’s counsel B Chandrasekhar and Paleti Umamaheswara Rao said that even after officials were informed about the illegal mining activity with photo evidence, no action was initiated, which they said, showed the influence of the accused.
Contempt case: Jail term for APMDC chief, sub-collector
The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday sentenced Rajampet sub-collector Ketan Garg and AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) chief project officer M Sudershan Reddy to six months’ imprisonment, besides slapping a fine of Rs 2,000 on them in a contempt case.
The court, however, put the orders on hold for two weeks, allowing the officials to go for an appeal. The case pertains to the demolition of some properties by the mining department officials in Mangampet area of the erstwhile Kadapa district. A woman from Obulavaripalle in Kadapa district, A Narsamma, filed a petition in the court seeking the appointment of a team of engineers to assess the value of the properties that were demolished.
The court had earlier asked the officials to appoint a team of engineers for the same.Since the orders were not implemented, Narsamma filed a contempt petition. Hearing the petition, Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy found sub-collector Ketan Garg and APMDC CPO Sudershan Reddy responsible for not appointing the committee and sentenced them to imprisonment.