By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad,June 4: The AP High Court on Thursday warned it will take action on officials of the mines and geology department who conducted public auction of the sand reaches in the Penna River without obtaining a ground water feasibility report.
Dealing with a public interest litigation, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan expressed anger at the department indiscriminately conducting auction of sand reaches.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Mr. Jangiti Rajendra Prasad, a resident of Jyothi village in Kadapa district, urging it to declare as illegal the public auction held on April 24 for grant of lease to quarry sand from the Penna River. The court had granted stay on April 30 on all further proceedings pursuant to the auction.
Mr C.V.R. Rudra Prasad, the counsel for the petitioner, argued that the action by the authorities was illegal and violated Rule 9-B of the AP Minor Mineral Concessions Rules, 1966 and the procedures envisaged by the AP Water, Land and Trees Act and Rules.
The judges then asked the counsel for the mines and geology department, Mr Surya Satish, whether officials had conducted survey in the area to assess feasibility of ground water. When the counsel said no, the division bench asked how officials issued notification for the auction without a survey.
At one stage the court asked the counsel to identify the official who was responsible for the auction so that it could recover from him loss suffered by the exchequer.
“The court has noticed several irregularities in auctioning sand reaches across the state in the last one decade and this is a not isolated case,” said Justice Ranganathan.
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