HC Stays Odisha Govt’s New Guidelines For Sand Mining

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has issued an interim stay on fresh guidelines brought by the state government for regulating sand quarrying.

The HC put a stay on the new guidelines issued on December 21, 2023, while hearing a PIL filed by social activist Prasanta Kumar Das for intervention against mechanised illegal sand mining on the bed of Kathajodi river near Cuttack.

The High Court had on November 29, 2023, warned that it would initiate criminal proceedings against officials if they fail to mend their ways and stop facilitating proliferation of excess mining of sand by using excavators on Kathajodi river bed within a fortnight.

Informing the court about compliance of the order, advocate general A K Parija had stated before the HC on December 21 that 14 leases have been suspended by issuing show cause notices.

The division bench of Acting Chief Justice B R Sarangi and Justice MS Raman issued the stay order after the petitioner filed an affidavit stating notification of the guidelines by the Steel and Mines department on the same day had led to resumption of use of excavators for quarrying of sand on the river bed.

Petitioner counsel S K Dalai pointed out that mining officer (Cuttack) had on the basis of the new regulation lifted suspension on 14 leases and allowed the lessees to use of excavators for mining of sand from the Kathajodi river bed.

The bench fixed February 1 for further consideration of the matter and stayed operation of the guidelines till then. The mining officer had allowed mechanised mining of sand on Kathajodi river on the basis of the section in the guidelines which prescribed standard environmental condition for sand mining, the petitioner alleged.

The section envisaged, “Depending upon the location, thickness of sand, deposition, agricultural land/river bed, the method of mining may be manual, semi-mechanised or mechanised; however, manual method of mining shall be preferred over any other method.” The stay order is significant as it has implications across the state.