Hyderabad High Court stays suspension of Trimex sand mining operations
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Friday stayed the AP government’s decision to suspend mining operations of Trimex Sands Pvt Ltd in some areas given to it on lease in Srikakulam district for excavation of beach sand.
Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the High Court granted an interim stay while hearing a plea by the Trimex Sands Company challenging a memo issued by the AP government on March 29, 2016, asking it to stop the mining operations.
Senior counsel D. Prakash Reddy, appearing for the company, submitted that it had been given the licence to excavate sand from 1,777 acres. By the new order, the government suspended the mining operation in 387 acres without obtaining fresh permission from it as also a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the revenue department.
Counsel said, as per law, no permission was required from the state government to carry out mining operations and the Mines and Geology department of the state was having no power to suspend mining operations. “The Indian Bureau of Mines is having the power to take action against the company if it has noticed any violations in mining operations.”
He submitted that the state government suspended the mining operations without giving any prior notice to the company.
When the judge questioned whether the notice was issued to the petitioner before suspending the mining operations, Dammalapati Srinivas, additional advocate general of AP, submitted that the government has the power to take action if it found any violation in lease of the agreement. The action was taken against the company after determining the extent to which the company indulged in illegal mining. He contended that no notice needed to be issued to the company before taking the action.
The judge said that as per law, 60 days' notice was required to be issued to the company to rectify the violations, if any. In this case, the authorities failed to follow the required procedure. While granting interim suspension on operation of memo, the judge adjourned the case for hearing after the summer vacations.
