PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has hit out at the Goa Police for the ‘casual manner’ in which they have treated complaints of illegal quarrying taking place in Collem village and asked the Director General of Police to intervene in the matter while also directing that no further quarrying take place at the site in question.
Hearing a petition filed by one Budho Arjun Gaonkar, who has alleged that the police and other authorities were reluctant to act on his complaints of large-scale quarrying operation for laterite stones is undertaken by using heavy earth moving machinery like bulldozer, JCB, excavators, power cutters, etc at Village Barkatem, Mollem, Dharbandora, Goa.
Along with the Petition, the Petitioner has enclosed complaints dated 14/9/2020, 29/9/2020, 21/9/2020, 28/9/2020, 27/1/2021, 22/2/2021 and 20/4/2022 made by him to the various authorities, including the Directorate of Mines and Geology.
“The Village Barkatem or for that matter even Collem is a very small place. If the photographs annexed to the Petition are perused, then, it is apparent that this large-scale illegal and unauthorised quarrying has gone on for at least the last two years. At least, the Petitioner has been complaining about this from 14/9/2020. The photographs indicate the large-scale activities and the extent to which such quarrying operations have taken place. Therefore, it is quite difficult to believe that the Police Authorities at Collem Police Station were not even aware of this large-scale illegal and unauthorised activity taking place virtually in their backyard,” the High Court observed.
After the petition was mentioned before the High Court, in the morning the High Court directed the officials to forthwith visit the site in question and ensure that the quarrying works at the site, if they are not backed by any permissions, should be stopped immediately.
In the afternoon, the additional government advocate told the court that presently no quarrying works are on at the site. He, however, admitted that no permissions have been granted by any authorities for undertaking such quarrying works and, therefore, the quarry was illegal and unauthorised.
The Government instead placed before the Court an FIR No.19/2022 lodged on 25th July 2022 against “unknown persons” for committing offence under Section 379 IPC and certain rules of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1985 and the provisions of MMDR Act, 1957. The FIR states that the total value of the property stolen/ involved is “Rs. 0/-” or not known.
“The Petitioner has named the persons who are carrying on this activity. Even the photographs show the registration numbers of some of the vehicles involved in the unauthorised quarrying activity and the theft of minerals belonging to the State. Still, the FIR has been filed in an extremely casual manner against the unknown persons and that too on 25th July 2022, perhaps after some information about the institution of this petition,” the High Court said.
“A copy of this order, along with the copies of this Petition, should be placed by the Director of Mines and Geology before the Director General of Police (DGP) within three days from today. The DGP should ensure that investigations into this serious offence are undertaken by some responsible Police official. The DGP should also inquire into the role of the Police Inspector or the Police Incharge of Collem Police Station This is because, at least prima facie, we find it difficult to believe that the Police Authorities at Collem Police Station were not even aware of this large-scale quarrying activities virtually in their backyard. The DGP should file a preliminary affidavit before us by 17th August 2022 explaining the status of the investigations,” the HC ruled.
The High Court also noted that the earliest complaint made to the Director of Mines and Geology is dated 21/9/2020 and sought to know what action has been taken based on the first complaints.
“The Director General of Mines and Geology should also file an affidavit before us on or before 17th August 2022 explaining the steps taken by him or his Department after receipt of the complaint dated 21/9/2020. If any steps were to be taken within some reasonable period from the receipt of the complaint, such a large-scale quarrying of laterite stones might have not been possible. Therefore, the Director of Mines and Geology should explain, in an affidavit, the precise steps taken after receipt of the complaint dated 21/9/2020,” the High Court said.
The High Court also noted how the Additional Collector-III, Ponda, simply forwarded the complaint to the Deputy Collector and the Mamlatdar of Dharbandora, Similarly, on 29/1/2021, Assistant Environmental Engineer, Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) directed two of its officials to inspect the site and issued a show cause notice.
The GSPCB should also file an affidavit about the steps taken by it in pursuance of the show cause notice, if issued.
The Petitioner has also made a complaint that the site in question falls within the eco-sensitive area declared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Based on this, the Petitioner also made a complaint, to the Chief Secretary, State of Goa and the Director of Mines and Geology on 20/4/2022. The record bears out that on 6/5/2022, the Under Secretary (Revenue) simply forwarded the copy of the Petitioner’s complaint to the Collector (South Goa) and requested him to take appropriate action deemed fit as per law.
“Thus, at least prima facie, it appears that the Petitioner’s complaints were simply forwarded by the officials who were required to look into the same and take immediate action, to each other. No effective action was ever taken. In the meanwhile, the large-scale quarrying activity and theft of laterite stones continued unabated. Even the panchayat authorities chose not to take any action in the matter,” the High Court said.
The matter will be heard next on August 17.
