By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad,July 7: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday expressed its concern over the indiscriminate sanction of individual permits to carry sand from the Godavari river in East Godavari district.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan while dealing with a petition filed by one Mr Arisetty Durga Rao of the district, directed the counsel for the mines and geology department to produce all the records pertaining to permits granted by the authorities in the district by Wednesday.
The court asked the counsel why they did not conduct public auction for sand quarrying.
The counsel replied that they issued a notification to conduct auction over a dozen times but no one came forward to participate in them. Keeping in view the requirement for need locally the authorities granted temporary permits, he added.
He told the court that the permission was given to those who took up construction of houses and other construction activity taken up by the government. Mr C.V.R. Rudra Prasad, counsel for the petitioner, complained to the court that the local contractors formed a syndicate and prevented others from participating in the auctions. He alleged that they obtain permits in the name of individuals and carried out sand business in the area.
The bench took serious note on the submission and hinted that the authorities have been giving an impression that they were granting permits to the needy , whereas the ground reality was different. The judges asked the counsel for the department to produce photocopies of building permissions and details of demand drafts submitted by individuals to carry sand from the river. The court will hear the matter again on Wednesday.
Report sought on debt tribunal
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday asked the assistant Solicitor General of India, Mr Rajasekhar Reddy, why the Centre did not initiate any action against the presiding officer of the Debt Recovery Tribunal.
The High Court had earlier directed the Centre to probe into the allegations against Mr D. Gopalakrishna, the presiding officer of the Debt Recovery Tribunal. The bench was dealing with a petition filed by Ms M.A. Ali and eight others complaining that the Centre did not take any steps to remove the presiding officer.
The petitioners alleged that the presiding officer was dispensing justice whimsically and was biased. They urged the court to probe into allegations against the presiding officer through a judge of the High Court.
Mr Rajasekhar Reddy told the court that two other writ petitions were also filed against the presiding officer and they were pending before another bench.
He said that one petition was filed questioning the awarding of costs in cases by the presiding officer and another was a quo warranto against his continuance in the post. Mr Reddy said that the Centre wanted to inquiry into the allegations. The judges asked the registry to club those petitions with the present petition and said that they will hear the matter on Wednesday.
Mining not to be stopped
The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday refused to grant interim order to stop mining operations in the reserve forest area on the Andhra and Karnataka borders till the demarcation of leased mining areas.
The court was dealing with a petition filed by Mr T. Ekambaram, a mining engineer of Bellary challenging a letter issued by the inspector-general of forests, ministry of environment on May 1, 2009.
According to the petitioner, the inspector-general issued a letter on April 2, 2009 directing the state government to suspend the mining operations by Obulapuram Mining Company, Bellary Iron Ores Pvt Ltd, Anantapur Mining Corporation and Y Mahabaleswarappa company in Bellary forest area of the state till demarcation of boundaries.
The petitioner urged the court to conduct manual survey to demarcate boundaries to distinguish the forest and the mining area.
The court said that it will not grant any interim direction till the Centre and the state government file their counter affidavit in the matter and grant two weeks to respondents to file their replies.
Theatres not to be closed
Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday suspended an order of the joint collector of Warangal district for closure of two theatres- Bhavani and Mini Bhavani in the district.
The management of the twin theatres had approached the High Court. The petitioners told the court that the official passed the order directing to shut down about 20 theatres in the district at the instance of the district fire officer. They contended that the order was illegal and it did not refer any provision of the law.
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