Illegal Mining Case: NGT Warns Dehradun DM of Criminal Action for Violating Its Order

Hearing a matter regarding alleged illegal mining in Uttarakhand’s Rishikesh, the National Green Tribunal has warned the Dehradun district magistrate of possible criminal action for violating its order.

Deprecating the officer’s conduct, the NGT said the DM instead of visiting the site himself and filing a report, assigned the task to the district’s deputy collector.

The green body was hearing a plea regarding the alleged illegal mining by a contractor in the riverbed of Ganga across Trivenighat, Naavghat, Duttatray Ghat, Suryaghat and Mayakund in Rishikesh.

The plea alleged that the local authorities had executed a contract with contractor, Akash Jain, for the removal of muck or silt deposited in the ghats, but Jain was carrying out "illegal" mining in the garb of silt removal, adversely impacting the river ecology in the area.

Last month, the tribunal formed a joint committee comprising the Dehradun DM, Uttarakhand State Pollution Control Board (UKPCB) officials and a representative of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to verify facts and submit a factual report.

In an order passed on Wednesday, a bench of judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member Afroz Ahmad noted that the DM had submitted the committee’s report.

Noting the report, the bench said, "The joint committee constituted by this tribunal was altered by DM...Instead of the DM, it is Deputy Collector, Dehradun who has been made a member of the committee to visit the site and submit a report."

"This action on the part of DM is absolutely illegal, unauthorised and beyond his authority. It amounts to a violation of the tribunal's order and constitutes an offence under Section 26 of NGT Act, 2010 for which appropriate criminal action may be taken against the DM concerned," it said.

Section 26 deals with the penalties for not following the tribunal’s orders, decisions or awards.

The tribunal also said that as per the report, Jain was granted permission for the "removal of sand" near Triveni Ghat.

It said that the counsel for the state of Uttarakhand was unable to dispute that Jain had been permitted to remove, transport and dispose of sand and these operations were under the ambit of a mining operation for extracting or obtaining minerals under the Mines and Minerals (Development And Regulation) Act.

"Supreme Court (in a 2012 case) has said that whenever there is mining, same cannot be allowed without obtaining Environmental Clearance (EC) which has not been done in the present case and it shows that DM has allowed mining activities in a wholly illegal manner," the tribunal said.

It then impleaded as parties in the case the DM, the state’s principal secretary for the forest and environment department, the district mining officer, UKPCB, the director of the state’s geology and mines department and contractor Jain.

The tribunal then issued notice to the respondents, seeking a response within two weeks.

It directed that Jain be served an additional notice within 10 days through the DM, following which the officer had to file a service report.

The tribunal also restrained Jain from carrying out any further mining activities in the area.

The matter has been posted on November 21 for further proceedings.