the goan I network
MARGAO
The South Goa Sessions Court has discharged Arjun Salgaoncar and Sameer Salgaoncar in the Asni Dongor mining case, with the court saying it is barred from taking cognizance of the offence in terms of Section 468 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The Crime branch had filed a chargesheet stating that the accused were the Directors of S Kantilal & Company Pvt Ltd, during the period from January 2009 to February 2010 when the said Company carried out mining activities at T.C. No.60/1952, situated at Asni Dongor in the villages of Curdi and Curpem of Sanguem Taluka, without grant of lease from the Directorate of Mines & Geology, thereby committing offences under Sections 4(1) (1-A) r/w Section 21(1)(2) of The Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 r/w Sections 4(1) and (1-A), r/w Section 21 (1)(2) of The Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act 2015.
It was the case of the accused that from a bare reading of the chargesheet, no offence under Section 4(1) and 4(1-A) r/w 21(1)(2) of the said Act has been made out. The accused further contended that the complaint dated 05.08.2014 is barred by limitation as the last date of the offence, as stated in the chargesheet, is February 2010.
It was their case that the punishment for the offences under Section 4(1) and 4(1-A) of the said Act is imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years and, as per Section 468 CrPC, the limitation for such an offence is three years and therefore, the limitation expired in February 2013.
The court observed that documents make it amply clear that the Director of Mines, who is the complainant in this case, was aware of the alleged illegal mining as on 17.04.2009. “Therefore, in terms of Section 469(1)(b) CrPC, the period of limitation commenced on the date when the offence came to the knowledge of the complainant in this case, which was in January to April 2009. Consequently, the chargesheet filed on 15.03.2016, on the basis of a complaint from the Director of Mines and Geology dated 15.09.2014, is hopelessly barred and no cognizance of the offence can be taken in terms of the provisions of Section 468 CrPC r/w 469 CrPC,” the court observed.
“The chargesheet states that the accused had carried out illegal mining for the period from January 2009 to February 2010. Therefore, as submitted by defence lawyer, Adv N Sardessai, the test reports of the ore dated 11.02.2015, submitted after the filing of the complaint cannot be said to have given a cause of action to file the complaint,” the court further observed.
