National Green Tribunal
News Item Published In The Siasat Daily ... vs Virender Singh & Ors Vide Order And on 11 July, 2023
Item No.12 Court No. 1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
Original Application No. 305/2023
In re : News item published in The Siasat Daily dated 18.04.2023 titled
"Sand mafia attacks Bihar Mines Department team, beats up woman
official"
Date of hearing: 11.07.2023
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHEO KUMAR SINGH, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN KUMAR TYAGI, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant:
Respondent: Mr. Rishi K. Awasthi & Mr. Azmat H. Amanullah, Adv. for the State of
Bihar
ORDER
1. In Original Application No. 360/2015 dated 26.02.2021 it was observed:-
"15. It is undisputed that there is huge degradation of environment on account of unregulated sand mining remains which is otherwise lucrative activity. It poses threat to bio-diversity, could destroy riverine vegetation, cause erosion, pollute water sources, badly affecting riparian ecology, damaging ecosystem of rivers, safety of bridges, weakening of riverbeds, destruction of natural habitats of organisms living on the riverbeds, affects fish breeding and migration, spell disaster for the conservation birdspecies, increase saline water in the rivers. It has direct impact on the physical habitat characteristics of the rivers such as bed elevation, substrate composition and stability, in-stream roughness elements, depth, velocity, turbidity, sediment transport, stream discharge and temperature. Increase in demand of sand has placed immense pressure in the supply of sand resource and mining activities were going on illegally as well as legally without requisite restrictions. Lack of proper planning and sand management disturbs marine ecosystem and upset the ability of natural marine processes to replenish the sand. The Hon'ble Supreme Court (in Deepak Kumar, supra) noted that core group was constituted by the MoEF&CC to examine the impact of minor minerals on riverbeds and ground waters. A draft report was prepared recommending mandatory preparation of mining plan on the pattern of mining plans for major minerals. Further recommendations are reclamation and rehabilitation of abandoned mines, proportion of hydro geo-logical balance for minerals below ground water table limiting depth of mining to 3 meter and identification on locations where mining 1 should be permitted was required. There is need for identifying safety zones in the proximity of intendments. Thus, strict regulatory parameters were required for regulating mining of minor minerals. It was noted that in-stream mining lowers the stream bottom of rivers which may lead to bank erosion. Depletion of sand in the stream bed causes deepening of rivers which may result in destruction of aquatic and riparian habitats. It has impact on stream's physical habitat characteristics.
16. In State (NCT of Delhi) v. Sanjay, (2014) 9 SCC 772, at page 790, it was observed :
"32. The policy and object of the Mines and Minerals Act and Rules have a long history and are the result of an increasing awareness ofthe compelling need to restore the serious ecological imbalance and to stop the damages being caused to the nature. The Court cannot lose sight of the fact that adverse and destructive environmental impact of sand mining has been discussed in the UNEP Global Environmental Alert Service Report. As per the contents of the Report, lack of proper scientific methodology for river sand mining has led to indiscriminate sand mining, while weak governance and corruption have led to widespread illegal mining. While referring to the proposition in India, it was stated that sand trading is a lucrative business, and there is evidence of illegal trading such as the case of the influential mafias in our country.
33. The mining of aggregates in rivers has led to severe damage to rivers, including pollution and changes in levels of pH. Removing sediment from rivers causes the river to cut its channel through the bed of the valley floor, or channel incision, both upstream and downstream of the extraction site. This leads to coarsening of bed material and lateral channel instability. It can change the riverbed itself. The removal of more than 12 million tonnes of sand a year from Vembanad Lake catchment in India has led to the lowering of the riverbed by 7 to 15 cm a year. Incision can also cause the alluvial aquifer to drain to a lower level, resulting in a loss of aquifer storage. It can also increase flood frequency and intensity by reducing flood regulation capacity. However, lowering the water table is most threatening to water supply exacerbating drought occurrence and severity as tributaries of major rivers dry up when sand mining reaches certain thresholds. Illegal sand mining also causes erosion. Damming and mining have reduced sediment delivery from rivers to many coastal areas, leading to accelerated beach erosion.
34. The Report also dealt with the astonishing impact of sand mining on the economy. It states that tourism may be affected through beach erosion. Fishing, both traditional and commercial, can be affected through destruction of benthic fauna. Agriculture could be affected through loss of agricultural land from river erosion and the lowering of the water table. The 2 insurance sector is affected through exacerbation of the impact of extreme events such as floods, droughts and storm surges through decreased protection of beach fronts. The erosion of coastal areas and beaches affects houses and infrastructure. A decrease in bed load or channel shortening can cause downstream erosion including bank erosion and the undercutting or undermining of engineering structures such as bridges, side protection walls and structures for water supply.
35. Sand is often removed from beaches to build hotels, roads and other tourism-related infrastructure. In some locations, continued construction is likely to lead to an unsustainable situation and destruction of the main natural attraction for visitors--beaches themselves. Mining from, within or near a riverbed has a direct impact on the stream's physical characteristics, such as channel geometry, bed elevation, substratum composition and stability, instream roughness of the bed, flow velocity, discharge capacity, sediment transportation capacity, turbidity, temperature, etc. Alteration ormodification of the above attributes may cause hazardous impact on ecological equilibrium of riverine regime. This may also cause adverse impact on instream biota and riparian habitats. This disturbance may also cause changes in channel configuration and flow paths Today, demand for sand and gravel continues to increase. Mining operators, instead of working in conjunction with cognizant resource agencies to ensure that sand mining is conducted in a responsible manner, are engaged in full-time profiteering. Excessive in-stream sand and gravel mining from riverbeds and like resources causes the degradation of rivers. In-stream mining lowers the stream bottom, which leads to bank erosion. Depletion of sand in the stream-bed and along coastal areas causes the deepening of rivers and estuaries and enlargement of river mouths and coastal inlets. It also leads to saline water intrusion from the nearby sea. The effect of mining is compounded by the effect of sea level rise. Any volume of sand exported from stream-beds and coastal areas is a loss to the system. Excessive in-stream sand mining is a threat to bridges, river banks and nearby structures. Sand mining also affects the adjoining groundwater system and the uses that local people make of the river. Further, according to researches, in-stream sand mining results in the destruction of aquatic and riparian habitat through wholesale changes in the channel morphology. The ill effects include bed degradation, bed coarsening, lowered water tables near the stream-bed and channel instability. These physical impacts cause degradation of riparian and aquatic biota and may lead to the undermining of bridges and other structures. Continued extraction of sand from riverbeds may also cause the entire stream-bed to degrade to the depth of excavation."
Need for regulation under the Water, Air and EP Acts by PCBs, apart from the Mining authorities under the Mining law 3
17. Again, in Goa Foundation, supra (prs 74-76) it was observed that mining was required to be regulated not only by the Mining department but also by the PCBs under the Water and Air Act and by the MoEF under the EP Act. It is made clear that the environment laws override other laws and any provision to the contrary in the Mines Act will not stay in the way of enforcing the environment norms. In this regard reference may also be made to report of the Ministry of Mines entitled "Sand Mining Framework" which will not stand in the way of modified mechanism in accordance with this order."
2. Cognizance was taken by this Tribunal on the issue of rampant illegal mining in Bihar taking place near bridges to get access to trucks affecting safety of the pillars supporting the bridges.
3. The matter was taken up by this Tribunal on 09.05.2023 and a Committee was constituted consisting Chief Secretary, Bihar, DGP, Bihar and ACS/PS, Mining and ACS/PC, Environment with direction to submit factual and action taken report. The Committee has submitted a report which as follows:-
"II. Site Inspection & Findings of the Joint Committee:
1. The Joint committee, formed under the directions passed by the Hon'ble NGT vide its order dated 09.05.2023, visited the place of occurrence i.e., Parev, Patna on 24.05.2023. The following essential facts came to light during the inspection conducted by the Joint Committee:
a) During inspection, it was found that no illegal mining was taking place in the nearby sand ghats. Further, there were no signs of any mining around the Koilwar bridge.
b) The District Magistrate, Patna informed that regular raids and checking is conducted on major routes and stern action is taken against the vehicles who plying with without challan or carrying excess quantity mentioned on challan. Legal sand ghats are also regularly checked and strict action is taken against irregularity, if found. In this regard, a total of 257 raids, 216 arresting, 70 FIR's, 434 vehicles seized and penalty amounting to Rs. 220.43 lakhs recovered during 17.04.2023 to 23.05.2023. In addition to this 7 FIR's lodged against illegal mining.4
c) In the District of Bhojpur a total of 251 raids, 27 arresting, 70 FIR's and 410 vehicles seized during 18.04.2023 to 23.05.2023.
2. The Joint Committee also held a meeting with the settlees and transporters of sand on 31.05.2023 and response was sought from them regarding the stringent action being taken by the State to prevent illegal mining. The concerned individuals/ settlees/ transporters submitted before the Committee that the steps which are being undertaken by the State have resulted into decrease of illegal mining and a sense of fear is there amongst the sand mafias in the state. It was also requested by the said persons that such measures must remain in place permanently so that illegal sand mining is completely eradicated in the State of Bihar.
III. Recommendation Given by the Joint Committee:
The Joint Committee, in furtherance of the action taken by the District Administration for curbing illegal sand mining, gave the following directions to the concerned District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police:
i. Conduct regular raids nearby non-settled sand ghats and also keep vigil on settled sand ghat.
ii. The Department of Mines and Geology will track the vehicle engaged in sand transportation by getting pre-registered and installation of GPS. Facility regarding extension of validity period will also be enabled in case of congestion in route.
iii. The Mines and Geology Department will pre-registered the vehicles engaged in sand transportation to resolve the issue faced due to the expiry of the time period of e-challan during traffic congestion. Along with this, tracking of vehicles shall be done by installing GPS.
iv. Establish checkposts equipped with CCTV cameras on the major routes of sand mining/ transportation and get intensive checking of vehicles by officials of mining, transport and police.
v. Additional Police post will be established in inaccessible area to more effectively dominate these area.
A copy of the minutes of meeting of the Joint Committee held on 24.05.2023 and 31.05.2023 are enclosed herewith as Annexure A. IV. The Measures taken by the State to deal with the problem of Illegal mining in Bihar.
A. New Bihar Sand Mining Policy 2019 i. The State of Bihar after due consideration of environmental concerns, sustainable sand mining guidelines and 5 assessment of the previous sand policy, promulgated a New Sand Policy in 2019.
ii. Earlier the whole district with all its rivers was settled with a single setllee, who then submitted a mining plan and applied for EC for various ghats. Majority of the ghats were B2 category ghats whose EC was given by DEIAA. iii. The settlement of one district or a few districts with one person/ company led to monopolization of the sand business by a few and led to increase in criminal activities. As they were leased the whole district, the leaseholders took EC for small plots but indulged in mining in area outside these plots thereby violating environmental safeguards and negating the EC regime.
iv. The State of Bihar rectified these issues in its new sand policy 2019 and restricted the area that could be settled with one settlee to a maximum of 200 hectares in case of major rivers. v. Areas of deposition of sand were identified and based on the surveyed area, major rivers like Son, Kiul, Falgu, Morhar and Chanan divided into sustainable contiguous blocks, wherever possible, keeping in mind the topography of the river to prevent illegal mining. Other rivers within a district divided as per requirement for the purpose of settlement. vi. The New Sand policy 2019 of Bihar was upheld by the Hon'ble NGT in OA No 62/19 and in its order dated 02.12.2019 and by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Civil Appeal No.-9467/2019 vide order dated 24.01.2020.
A copy of the Bihar Sand Mining Policy, 2019 is enclosed herewith as Annexure B. B. Constitution of Mininq Task Force at State, Division and District level i. The State Government has also formulated the Bihar Minerals (Concession, Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation & Storage) Rules, 2019. The chapter XVII of Bihar Mineral (Concession, Prevention of illegal Mining, Transportation & Storage) Rules, 2019 deals with mechanism for preventing illegal mining, transportation, and storage of sand. Under this chapter, Mining Task Force has been constituted at State/ Division/ District level. It is the responsibility of the District Level Task Force to ensure that all the mining activity is carried out as per the terms of the mining lease and no illegal mining, illegal transportation, over loading, hoarding and black marketing of minor mineral is carried on. The following District level officials are member of District level Mining Task Force:-
(a) Collector-- Chairman
(b) Superintendent of Police
(c) All Sub Divisional Officers
(d) All Sub Divisional Police Officers
(e) Divisional Forest Officer
(f) Executive Engineer, RCD, BCD, PHED and Rural Works Department 6
(g) District Transport Officer
(h) District Mining Officer -- Member Secretary C. Stringent Penal Provisions made by enhancing fine to 25 times the royalty amount and compound fee based on the type of vehicle used i. In order to control illegal mining and transportation in the State stringent penal provisions were made enhancing the compounding fee and rate of fine for illegal mining/ transportation of minerals, as per the guidelines given by the Hon'ble National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi vs. Virender Singh & Ors vide order and judgement dated 26.02.2021 in OA No. 360 of 2015.
ii. The State of Bihar promulgated and notified the Bihar Minerals (Concession, Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation & Storage) Amendment Rules, 2021 vide gazette notification dated 5th July 2021 for prevention of illegal mining by prescribing severe penalties considering the gravity of the offences. The amended Rule 56 (1) clearly stipulates that no person shall extract or remove or undertake any mining operation in any area without holding any mineral concession, permit or any other permission granted or permitted under these rules or shall transport or store or cause to be transported or stored any mineral without a valid challan or license. Sub Rule (2) of Rule 56 prescribes imprisonment term, which may extend to two years or a fine of five lakh rupees or both. The Mining officer may compound the offence on payment of cost of the mineral and the compound fees detailed in the chart reproduced herein below:-
S.No. Vehicle/ Equipment Compound Fee
(in Rs.) Per Unit
1 Tractor Trolley 25000/-
2 Matador, Half Truck 407,608 50000/-
Full Body Truck/ Dumper 100000/-
(Hydraulic 6-wheeler vehicle)
3
10 or more than 10-wheeler 200000/-
4 vehicle
Crane, Excavator, Loader, Power 400000/-
5 hammer, Compressor, Drilling
Machine, etc
Note: - Cost of the mineral shall be taken as twenty-five times of royalty in lieu of rent, royalty, compensation for environmental degradation and tax chargeable on the land occupied without lawful authority, etc. Provided that the amount of compound fee in cases other than specified as above shall not be less than rupees twenty-five thousand and shall be in addition to the cost of mineral.
7iii.Rule 56 (3) also contains provisions for seizure of vehicle along with the mineral by a mining officer or police officer of the district or any other officer of the district authorized by the Collector. A copy of the Bihar Minerals (Concession, Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation & Storage) Amendment Rules, 2021 is enclosed herewith as Annexure C. D. Continuous Raids and Monitoring: -
On the directions of the District Level Task Force, district officers of mining, transport, revenue and police have been conducting periodic raids both during the day and at night. The details of action taken during last two years is provided herein below:-
Period Raids FIR Arresting Vehicles Penalty Seized Imposed (In Iakhs) 2021-22 16,504 3175 1760 18276 16512.41 2022-23 22,962 4437 2441 20352 29900.08 2023-24 4526 821 485 4043 5362.00 (till 31.5.2023) The sand mining ghats are also being inspected by the concerned officials and in case of any irregularly, heavy penalty is being imposed upon the contractors at the sand ghats. Moreover, third party environmental audit of sand ghats has also been conducted for effective monitoring of sand mining in the respective districts of the state.
E. Exemplary Action against officers whose role was found dubious The State of Bihar has a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal mining. It is the only state in the country to take exemplary action against government officers whose role in controlling illegal mining was found to be dubious. The Economic Offences Unit after surveillance two Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, four deputy superintendents of police (DSP) rank officers, many SHOs besides four Bihar Administrative Service officers (BAS) were among 27 officials suspended for aiding and abetting illegal sand mining mafias in four districts of the state. A motor vehicle inspector (MVI) along with five officers of mines and geology department were also suspended for aiding and abetting the illegal sand mining mafia.
F. Creation and Recruitment on 100 posts of Mining Inspectors in the State.
To ensure that regulatory mechanism works efficiently towards the prevention of illegal mining and transportation, the Department of Mines and Geology created 100 new posts of Mining Inspectors. Till date 90 Mining Inspector including 28 Women have been recruited and posted. These Mining Inspectors hail from prestigious 8 institutions and are being regularly trained to deal with illegal sand mining.
G. Deployment of SAP and Home guards in various Districts.
190 Home guards and 137 SAPs has been deployed to deal with the menace of illegal sand mining, transportation and storage.
H. Preparation of DSR for all Districts.
In the light of order of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of State of Bihar & Ors. vs. Pawan Kumar & Ors., Civil Appeal No. 3661-3662 of 2020, the District Survey Report has been prepared and the same are approved by State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Bihar. All the sand deposit areas of the river are identified and included in the new DSRs to avoid possibilities of illegal mining. The identified sand ghats are being auctioned and the concerned LOI holders have applied for grant of EC before SEIAA which is under process. In the interregnum, the Bihar State Mining Corporation Ltd. (BSMCL) has been conducting sand mining in the state by appointing contractors in terms of the orders passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of State of Bihar & Ors. vs. Pawan Kumar & Ors., Civil Appeal No. 3661-3662 of 2020. The entire sand mining activity being undertaken in the State of Bihar, as on date, is being done under the supervision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the abovementioned pending matter.
V. Steps to further improve the mechanism:
1. The Council of Minister, State of Bihar has already granted approval for services of National Informatics Centre (NIC) in Department of Mines and Geology Department for Next Generation Mining Management Software and incorporation of latest technologies and best practices which being followed across country in mining sector for delivery of services which aims at the following :-
a) Integrated Web, Mobile technology as enabler for transparency, robustness, and Secured platforms.
b) Dashboards for all stakeholders along with alerts will be generated for smooth operations.
c) The software has been architecturally designed to ensure that there is no technical issue when the number of concurrent users increases.
d) The software will be integrated with the Central mParivahan (MORTH) Portal to ensure that vehicle details are verified before issuing a challan. However, the dependency on Central server during challan issue has been eliminated.
e) A command-and-control centre will be established to monitor the vehicle movements.
f) A new feature has been added to the portal, allowing vehicle owners to register their vehicles and get vehicles verified with mPariwahan (MORTH) Portal before issuing a challan.
g) Departmental officers will also be able to verify the loaded vehicle and its challan through the Mobile App. The QR Code 9 of Challan will be securely encrypted so that only verified Mobile App users can scan and check challan/vehicle information.
h) The software will be integrated with VLTS (Vehicle Location Tracking System), which is currently running in the transport department, to track vehicles. The route chart will also be digitized to track deviations in the route and generate alerts.
i) Vendors for GPS devices empanelled with MORTH will be shared with vehicle owners so that they can procure and install standard devices as per MORTH guidelines.
j) Mining plans will be digitized, and geo-fencing of the mining area will be done. Entire resources are being digitised bring them on GIS platform."
Salient features of the EMGSM-2020
4. We may note the salient features of the EMGSM-2020, which are supplemental to existing SSMG-2016 and seek to provide effective enforcement and monitoring from the stage of identification of source to its dispatch and end use which requires involvement of all stakeholders viz. Central Government, State Government, Leaseholders/Mine Owners, Distributors, Dealers, Transporters and Consumers (bulk & retail).
EMGSM refer to the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Deepak Kumar Vs. State of Haryana & Ors. (2012) 4 SCC 629 making EC mandatory irrespective of the area of mining lease, followed by monitoring in terms of the Environment Management Plan, using IT and IT enabled services. Monitoring has to be with reference to quantity of mined material, transportation with a view to promote environmental protection, limit negative physiological, hydrogeological and social impacts underpinning sustainable economic growth. Observations in the order of this Tribunal dated 04.09.2018 in O.A. 173/2018 in Sudarsan Das vs. State of West Bengal & Ors. has also been referred to as follows:
"There can be no two views that an effective institutional monitoring mechanism is required not only at the stage when Environmental Clearance is granted but also at subsequent stages".10
"The guidelines focus on the preparation of District Survey Report and the Management Plan" ...
We are of the view that all the safeguards which are suggested in sustainable sand mining guidelines as well as notification dated 15.01.2016 ought to be scrupulously followed." ... It is a known fact that in spite of the above-suggested guidelines being in existence, on the ground level, illegal mining is still going on. The existing mechanism has not been successful and effective in remedying the situation." ...
Since there is an utter failure in the current monitoring mechanism followed by the State Boards, SEIAAs and DEIAAs, it is required to be revised for effective monitoring of sand and gravel mining and a dedicated monitoring mechanism be set up."
Further reference has been made to the directions in the order dated 05.04.2019 requiring the 17 States, which were party before the Tribunal viz. West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Kerala, Telangana and Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, to follow the revised Guidelines and to review their respective monitoring mechanism. It is then stated that with the object of regulating the mining, the sources of sand and steps required are mentioned which provide for District Survey Report (DSR), Mining Plan, replenishment study, consideration of environment impact while granting EC, laying down conditions for EC, monitoring of transportation to the end user to ensure that only legally mined material is transported. There is need to balance between deposition and extraction of sand as per replenishment study, maintaining surveillance, using Unmanned Artificial Vehicles (UAVs)/Drone for reserves estimation, quantity estimation, land use monitoring. Details about all these aspects have been mentioned in the said Guidelines. With regard to post EC monitoring, there is a provision for environment audit, monitoring of sale and purchase by developing online portal and laying down the levels of monitoring i.e. Level 1- Reach/ Stockyard level monitoring, Level 2 - Transportation monitoring, Level 3 - End consumer 11 monitoring/ bulk consumer, Level 4 - Indirect monitoring. Reference has then been made to the High-Powered Committee incorporating safeguards to be adopted by the project proponents. There is also provision for assessment of compensation for the ecological damage by the State/ PCB/ any other Authority. Inter District and Inter State boundaries are separately dealt with. The uniform monitoring mechanism stipulates:
" 9.4. Monitoring Mechanism xxx ...............................xxx.......................xxx....................
1. All precaution shall be taken to ensure that the water stream flows unhindered and process of Natural river meandering doesn't get affected due to mining activity.
2. River mining from outside shall not affect rivers, no mining shall be permitted in an area up to a width of 100 meters from the active edge of embankments or distance prescribed by the Irrigation department.
3. The mining from the area outside river bed shall be permitted subject to the condition that a safety margin of two meters (2 m) shall be maintained above the groundwater table while undertaking mining and no mining operation shall be permissible below this level unless specific permission is obtained from the Competent Authority. Further, the mining should not exceed nine- meter (9 m) at any point in time.
4. Survey shall be carried out for identifying the stretches having habitation of freshwater turtles or turtle nesting zones. Similarly, stretches shall be identified for other species of significant importance to the river ecosystem. Such stretch with adequate buffer distance shall be declared as no-mining zone and no mining shall be permitted. The regulatory authority as defined for granting Environmental Clearance, while considering the application of issuance of ToR and/or EC for the adjacent block (to non-mining zone) of mining shall take due precaution and impose requisite conditions to safeguard the interest of such species of importance.
5. District administration shall provide detailed information on its website about the sand mines in its district for public information, with an objective to extend all information in public domain so that the citizens are aware of the mining activities and can also report to the district administration on any deviation observed.12
Appropriate feedback and its redressal mechanism shall also be made operational. The details shall include, but not limited to, lease area, geo-coordinates of lease area and mineable area, transport routes, permitted cap acity, regulatory conditions for operation including mining, environmental and social commitments etc.
6. A website needs to be maintain to track the movement of centralised sand mining and a Centralised server system should be made to manage the data related to sand mining across India.
7. The mineral concession holders shall maintain electronic weighbridges at the appropriate location identified by the district mining officer, in order to ensure that all mined minerals from that particular mine are accounted for before the material is dispatched from the mine. The weighing bridge shall have the provision of CCTV camera and all dispatch from the mine shall be accounted for.
8. The mineral movement shall be monitored and controlled through the use of transit permit with security features like printing on IBA approved MICR papers, Unique bar/QR, fugitive ink background, invisible ink mark, void pantographs and watermarks papers or through use of RFID tagged transit permits and IT /IT-enabled services. Such monitoring system shall be created and made operationalised by State Mining department and district level mining officer shall be responsible for ensuring that all legal and operational mines are connected and providing the requisite information on the system. Regular check and associated report shall be submitted to DLTF and uploaded on the website.
9. State Government shall constitute a District Level Task Force (DLTF) under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner/District Magistrate/Collector with Superintendents of Police and other related senior functionaries (District Forest Officer, District transport officer, Regional officer- SPCBs, Senior Officer of Irrigation Department, District Mining Officer) with one/two independent member nominated by the Commissioner concerned. The independent member shall be retired government officials/teacher or ex-serviceman or ex-judiciary member.
The DLTF shall keep regular watch over the mining activities and movement of minerals in the district. The DLTF shall have its regular meeting, preferably every month to reconcile the information from the mining activity, and other observations made during the month and take appropriate corrective and remedial action, which may include a recommendation for revoking mining lease or environmental clearance. The DLTF may constitute an independent committee of the expert to assess the environmental or ecological damage caused due to 13 illegal mining and recommend recovery of environmental compensation from the miner's concern. The recommendation may also include action under the provision of E(P) Act, 1986.
10. The area not identified for mining due to restriction or otherwise are also to be monitored on a regular basis by the DLTF. Any observations of mining activity from the restricted area shall be reported and corrective measures shall be initiated on an urgent basis by the DLTF.
11. The dispatch routes shall be defined in the Environmental Clearance and shall be avoided through densely habituated area and the increase in the number of vehicle movement on the road shall be in agreement with the IRC guidelines / carrying capacity of the road. The alternate and dedicated route shall be explored and preferred for movement of mining to avoid inconvenience to the local habitat. The mining production capacity, by volume/weight, shall be governed by total permissible dispatch calculated based on the carrying capacity of dispatch link roads and accordingly, the production should be regulated.
12. The movement of minerals shall be reconciled with the data collected from the mines and various Naka/check posts. Other measures may also include a general survey of the potential mineable area in the district which has not been leased/auctioned or permitted for mining due to regulatory or other reasons.
13. The location and number of check post requirement shall be reviewed by DLTF on a regular basis so that appropriate changes in location/number could be made as per the requirement. Such review shall be carried out on a regular basis for the district on inter-state boundary or district providing multiple passages between two districts of different states.
14. The district administration shall compile the information from their district of the permitted and legal mined out minerals and other details and share such information and intelligence with the officials of the adjoining district (Inter or/and Intra State) for reconciliation. The information shall include the area of operation, permissible quantity, mined out minerals (production) the permitted route etc., and other observations, especially where the mine lease boundary is congruent with the district boundary. Such coordination meeting shall be held on a quarterly basis, alternatively in two district headquarters or any other site in two districts decided mutually by the District Magistrate.
15. The mining department shall include submission of an annual environmental audit report as one of the conditions in the mining lease agreement. The annual 14 audit for each river bed mining lease shall be carried out and the audit report shall be uploaded on the website of district administration. The audit shall be carried out by an independent team of 3 members nominated by District Collector/Magistrate/Commissioner comprising of Ex- Serviceman, Ex-Government officials of repute, Professor or Person having experience of mining/environment. The guidelines and method of the audit shall reflect adequately the monitor-able parameters and output and reflect the compliance status with respect to the conditions imposed by the regulatory authorities including conditions of Environmental clearance.
16. The in-situ and ex-situ environmental mitigative measures stipulated as EMP, CER, CSR and other environmental and safety conditions in mines including the welfare of labours shall properly reflect in the audit report.
9.5 Suggestive additional requirements are i. The requirement at the Mine Lease Site:
a. Small Size Plot (Up to 5 hectares): Android Based Smart Phone.
b. Large Size Plots (More than 5 hectares): CCTV camera, Personal Computer (PC), Internet Connection, Power Back up.
c. Access control of mine lease site.
d. Arrangement for weight or approximation of the weight of mined out mineral on the basis of the volume of the trailer of vehicle used.
ii. Scanning of Transport Permit or Receipt and Uploading on Server:
a. Website: Scanning of receipt on mining site can be done through barcode scanner and computer using the software; b. Android Application: Scanning on mining site can be done using Android Application using a smartphone. It will require internet availability on SIM card; c. SMS: Transport Permit or Receipt shall be uploaded on the server even by sending SMS through mobile. Once Transport Permit or Receipt get uploaded, a unique invoice code gets generated with its validity period.
iii. Proposed working of the system:
The State Mining Department should print the Transport Permit or Receipt with security features and issue them to the mining leaseholder through the District Collector. Once these Transport Permits or Receipts are issued, they would be uploaded on the server against that mine lease area. Each receipt should be preferable with pre-fixed quantity, so the total quantity gets determined for the receipts issued. When the Transport Permit or Receipt barcode gets scanned and invoice is generated, that 15 particular barcode gets used and its validity time is recorded on the server. So all the details of transporting of mined out material can be captured on the server and the Transport Permit or Receipt cannot be reused.
iv. Checking On Route:
The staff deployed for the purpose of checking of vehicles carrying mined mineral should be in a position to check the validity of Transport Permit or Receipt by scanning them using the website, Android Application and SMS.
v. Breakdown of Vehicle:
In case the vehicle break-down, the validity of Transport Permit or Receipt shall be extended by sending SMS by the driver in specific format to report the breakdown of the vehicle. The server will register this information and register the breakdown. The State can also establish a call center, which can register breakdowns of such vehicles and extend the validity period. The subsequent restart of the vehicle also should be similarly reported to the server or call center.
vi. Tracking of Vehicles:
The route of the vehicle from source to destination can be tracked through the system using checkpoints, RFID Tags, and GPS tracking.
vii. Alerts or Report Generation and Action Review:
The system will enable the authorities to develop a periodic report on different parameters like daily lifting report, vehicle log or history, lifting against allocation, and total lifting. The system can be used to generate auto mails or SMS. This will enable the District Collector or District Magistrate to get all the relevant details and shall enable the authority to block the scanning facility of any site found to be indulged in irregularity. Whenever any authority intercepts any vehicle transporting illegal sand, it shall get registered on the server and shall be mandatory for the officer to fill in the report on action taken. Every intercepted vehicle shall be tracked.
The monitoring of mined out mineral, environmental clearance conditions and enforcement of Environment Management Plan will be ensured by the regulatory authority and the State Pollution Control Board or Committee. The monitoring arrangements envisaged above shall be put in place. The monitoring of enforcement of environmental clearance conditions shall be done by the Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the agency nominated by the Ministry for the purpose.16
Some of the State has followed the SSMMG-2016 and has also improvised or customized on the provisions given therein, and are successfully in operation. Salient provision adopted at different stages of sand mining in the state of Tamil Nadu is given as Annexure VIII.
9.6 Actions against illegal excavation and transport Solapur district administration in Maharashtra had adopted a multi-pronged strategy to penalize the persons involved in illegal excavation and transport which resulted in a significant increase in revenue earned by the state.
Following rules and procedures as mentioned in these guidelines will add to the costs of PP. Those involved in illegal activities are not required to bear these costs and this will make their supply in the market cheaper (though illegal). This will put the players running their business by following rules and procedures laid down by the government to disadvantage as far as the selling price is considered. Therefore, it is necessary to come down heavily on those involved in illegal excavation/transport, so that there is no incentive for players to abide by the rules.
The following action may be taken to achieve this deterrence against illegal business:
1. The action should be taken under all legal options available simultaneously. Thus, after identifying the case of illegal excavation, storage and/or transport of minor minerals (including sand), fine should be levied as per the land revenue laws/code(s) of the state. In addition, FIR should be lodged in the police station under relevant sections of law including sec 379 IPC. In addition, action under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1989 and relevant rules should initiate to cancel/suspend the driving license of the driver and permit of the vehicle. Further, action should be initiated under provisions in the Income Tax Act, 1961 for unaccounted income and under the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017 for nonpayment of GST.
(Earlier this was done under the state act pertaining to Value Added Tax/Sales Tax). Habitual offenders should also be taken up under local state laws for externment and/or preventive action. It is clarified that as per law, it is possible to take all actions under various laws simultaneously for one offence. What is prohibited in law is an action under the same law for the same act more than once.
2. The action should be taken against all persons responsible. Often, there is a tendency to penalize only the drivers of the vehicles. The mafia of illegal mining and transport is much bigger and drivers are only one part of the system. It is necessary to identify all those involved in the offence. It is usually not possible to reach the place of excavation without creating a motorable pathway up to the same through land which may be 17 private land. Such role of such landowners needs to be looked into for each offence and proceeded against simultaneously. Further, the role of vehicle owners needs to be probed. Role of the person who allowed his land to be used for illegal excavation and storage should also be examined. Lastly, the person who purchases such sand should also be probed. The legal proceedings stated above needs to be initiated against all of these together. An attempt should be made to fix the financial responsibility in joint and several ways so that recovery is easier.
3. There may be discretion available in law about the extent of the penalty to be levied. If such discretion is very wide, then it is advisable that guidelines may be laid down to reduce such discretion in law for levying penalties. For example, in Maharashtra, Land Revenue Code, fine of any amount of penalty up to thrice the value of the sand can be levied. Solapur district administration had instructed Tahsildars and SDMs not to use discretion and levy the fine of three times the value. Availability of discretion makes junior level functionaries susceptible to pressures and it may also lead to corrupt practices.
4. It is emphasized that actions, as stated above, are most important to ensure that the IT-based system works. If these exemplary actions are not taken against everyone, it shall create a strong disincentive to those involved in legal excavation and transportation. For IT- based (or any other) legal system to work, it is necessary to ensure that illegal system stops working altogether."
5. Since, Chief Secretary of Bihar has taken action and proper mechanism have been suggested to control the illegal mining thus we direct the Chief Secretary to monitor the mechanism and direct the Competent Authority of District Headquarter to regularly monitor by checking of illegal mining and to comply SSMG 2016 and EMGSM, 2020.
6. State PCB is directed to take necessary visit and inspect periodically and in case it is found that there is a violation of environmental rules or mining rules, penal action in addition to 18 assessment and imposition of environmental compensation must be taken against the violators.
7. The environmental compensation so assessed shall be utilized for environmental purposes.
8. With these observations the Original Application No. 305/2023 stands disposed of.
Sheo Kumar Singh,CP Arun Kumar Tyagi, JM Dr. A. Senthil Vel, EM July 11, 2023 Original Application No. 305/2023 HB 19