HC declines to vacate stay on sand quarrying

HYDERABAD: The High Court on Thursday declined to vacate the stay it ordered on all auctions and quarrying of sand in the state.Disposing of a batch of writ petitions and PILs, a division bench comprising chief justice Madan B Lokur and justice PV Sanjay Kumar declined to modify its order of March 21 and suggested to the state government to approach the Supreme Court for modification of its order dated February 27 for Andhra Pradesh.The Supreme Court, in its order, had said, “We, in the meanwhile, order that leases of minor mineral, including their renewal for an area of less than five hectares, be granted by the states/Union territories only after getting environmental clearance from the ministry of environment and forests.” The High Court noted that it was concerned with stoppage or continuance of sand quarrying. ``In the past there were two methods of quarrying sand _ river-bed and in-stream. Controlled and well- regulated quarrying of sand was not objected to, but in the garb of development, there is nothing short of rapacious quarrying of sand on the river-beds and in-stream. It has already begun to have an adverse impact and unless there is a check, we will enter a calamitous zone of environment degradation. It is essential to ensure that there is no rampant and unregulated exploitation of natural resources.“Unfortunately, it seems the state government is turning a Nelson’s eye to these problems. It is difficult to overlook the government’s admission that the WALTA Act and Rules do not apply to in-stream quarrying of sand.“We have gone in great depth into the issues raised. This is because of the large-scale impact of our order and the detailed submissions made by the advocate-general. We make it clear that any observations made in the order are only for the purpose of deciding the issue of the continuance or otherwise of the interim order passed earlier. Our observations and conclusions are only tentative.”Dealing with another writ petition filed by a resident of Nizamabad, the bench directed the state government to allow vehicles carrying sand from Maharashtra into Andhra Pradesh provided the vehicles had valid permits.