Tuesday, 20 December 2022 | PNS | NAINITAL
In a major decision, the Uttarakhand High Court has ordered a stay on mining using machinery in the State. Hearing on a public interest litigation, the division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe issued this order while also directing the Mining secretary to submit an affidavit explaining why the royalty for mining is stated to be Rs 31 per quintal on the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation website while the royalty on websites of private enterprises is stated to be Rs 12 per quintal. The secretary has been directed to submit the affidavit by January 12.
According to the case details, Haldwani resident Gagan Parasar and others had filed a public interest litigation stating that using machines for mining is not permitted in the State while manual quarrying is allowed according to the mining rules in the State. Despite this, mining is being carried out with the use of heavy machinery in various parts of the State. The petitioners have stated that there is a difference between government and private mining royalty due to which the private enterprises involved in mining are paying less tax while more tax is being paid on governmental mining. This is resulting in loss of revenue to the government because people are purchasing the mined materials from private enterprises. The petitioners have also sought that the government and private royalty should be the same on mining.
It is pertinent to mention here that mining is a major source of revenue for the State government. Apart from the authorised mining especially on riverbeds, illegal mining is also found to be thriving in parts of the State with the police and other departments concerned taking action against such activities on some occasions.
