MADURAI: Suspecting foul play in the reduction of penalty imposed on a stone quarry operator in Tirunelveli for violations from Rs 13.65 crore to Rs 1.33 crore by the Commissioner of Geology and Mining in 2022, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ordered the state government to review all such orders passed by the official and take appropriate action as per law.
The commissioner had passed the order under Rule 36-D of the TN Minor Mineral Concessions Rules on a petition filed by the operator against the penalty imposed by revenue authorities for illegal quarrying and transportation of gravel beyond permitted limit.
Justice B Pugalendhi passed the verdict recently while hearing a petition filed by quarry operator C Ramesh against a government order dated August 22, 2025, which set aside the commissioner’s 2022 order.
Govt restored penalty based on original findings
The judge rejected the quarry operator’s plea to quash the GO and said the commissioner had entertained the appeal without jurisdiction. Incidentally, the ruling comes just a week after Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-graft NGO, submitted a petition to Minister for Natural Resources, Minerals and Mines Dr TK Prabhu to nullify the orders passed by former Commissioner of Geology and Mining J Jayakanthan reducing the penalties imposed on 24 stone quarries in Tirunelveli for various violations from Rs 262 crore to Rs 13.8 crore.
The current case pertains to a fatal accident which took place at the petitioner’s quarry at Palamadai village in Tirunelveli in May 2022. Following the incident, a special inspection team inspected the quarry and found that the lessee had illegally quarried and transported 5,045 cubic metres of gravel and 2,71,974 cubic metres of rough stone in excess of the permitted quantity.
Based on the findings, the revenue divisional officer imposed a penalty of Rs 13.65 crore on the operator. However, in November 2022, the Commissioner of Geology and Mining reduced the penalty to Rs 1.99 crore and later to Rs 1.33 crore after accepting a representation from the quarry operator.
The commissioner further granted a five-month extension of the quarry lease. In December 2022, the state initiated suo motu revision proceedings under Rule 40 of the TN Minor Mineral Concessions Rules, holding that the commissioner lacked jurisdiction to entertain the appeal under Rule 36-D and had wrongly reduced the penalty.
Subsequently, the government restored the penalty based on the original inspection findings and issued a show-cause notice to the petitioner in December 2024, following which he approached the court.
