
THOOTHUKUDI: Even as the arguments into the 10-year-long suo motu PIL on illegal beach sand mining case have come to an end, an analysis of the affidavits and counters filed by the secretaries of various departments of both state and central governments reveals that the government authorities, who had urged the court to dismiss the case with exemplary cost, later admitted to the violations after the Satyabrata Sahoo committee’s and the amicus curiae’s comprehensive reports established unlawful mining.
In 2013, the TN government issued orders to stop mining beach sand minerals such as garnet, ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and sillimanite in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, Tiruchy, and Madurai.
As illegal mining became rampant again, professor Dr G Victor Rajamanickam filed a PIL at the Madras HC in 2015 demanding action. Chief Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayanan on January 28, 2016, converted the PIL into a suo motu case and appointed advocate Dr V Suresh as amicus to assist the court. Satyabrata Sahoo committee was formed as per an HC order dated January 11, 2017, to quantify the minerals stashed in processing plants, yards, godowns, and bonded warehouses related to the plants in the three southern districts.
During the hearings of the suo motu PIL, various departments of state and central governments urged the HC to dismiss the writ petition claiming it deserves no consideration and is devoid of merit. However, findings of the committee and amicus curiae since 2018 forced the secretaries of state government, and top central government officials to file revised counters admitting to the violations of stipulated law, commissions and omissions.
While the Satyabrata Sahoo committee established an excess of minerals stocked at godowns, the amicus curiae revealed that a whopping 37,024.64 tonnes of monazite could have been extracted from the mined areas. The government can recover a pending royalty due and cost of minerals, amounting to Rs 5,832.44 crore.
Thereafter, the additional chief secretary to the Natural Resources Department admitted violations in his affidavit filed in February 2022, that over 1.01 crore tonnes of raw sand were illegally mined and transported by the private lessees over an extent of 579.33 acres of non-leased out areas in the three southern districts citing Gagandeep Singh Bedi’s report that was submitted five years earlier. (Bedi filed his inspection report pertaining to Thoothukudi before the HC on September 20, 2016, and for Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari on January 11, 2017.)
The regional controller of Mines of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) submitted an additional affidavit in 2022, claiming the amicus curiae’s November 2021 report on the illegal mining and transportation of beach sand minerals and the mismatch of data on monazite productions are serious in nature, and prayed for a direction to initiate appropriate actions. Similarly, the Department of Atomic Energy in its counter affidavit submitted on January 24, 2022, agreed that excessive mining of can not be ruled out.
Speaking to TNIE, a lessee contended that it is mysterious to see that the Tamil Nadu government itself went ahead and took cognizance of the reports filed by amicus curiae, which was solely appointed to assist the court. Even the HC has not yet accepted the reports, he added.
An RTI activist, requesting anonymity, told TNIE top officials remained a mute spectator on complaints against the illegal mining along coastal areas since 1990. They wilfully filed improper and incorrect counters denying violations despite being senior IAS officers, he said suspecting connivance with miners.