In a major embarrassment to the Punjab Government, the seven “disputed” sand and gravel mines will ‘once again’ go under hammer under the judicial scanner — for the first time ever.
Giving credence to the allegations of irregularities in the “e-auction” of seven sand and gravel mines to favour the “political masters and the sand mafia”, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday ordered to hold the bidding process in an open court.
Out of the seven “under-challenged” mines that would go under hammer on September 6, five are in Pathankot district and two in Ropar district.
In the mine auction, all participants that had earlier participated in the e-biding process, and have moved the High Court will be allowed to take part.
Earlier, these mines were auctioned on August 12 along with 13 others, under Category A, after the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) gave its nod for the process. In all, there were 20 mines, of which 11 are in Pathankot, six in Roopnagar (Ropar), two in Mohali and one in Patiala.
The decision to hold auction of mines in an open court came after the bidders, who participated in the e-auction of mines in Punjab, complained of anomalies in the process, and submitted a complaint to the industries department demanding scrapping of the process and conduction the auction again.
The bidders had also alleged that attempts were made by the Punjab Government and its functionaries to block user-id during an online auction to facilitate illegal mining in the State.
Besides auctioning of mines in the open court, the Division Bench of Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice GS Sandhawalia also stayed the allotment of the seven disputed mines on the basis of auction held on August 12.
The High Court’s decision, that has apparently left the State Government red-faced, has come at a time when a Central team of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had recently visited the State, and learnt to have found traces of illegal activities in the river beds and forest lands.
In fact, the Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanti Natrajan had promised the State Congress leadership that a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be conducted into the allegations of illegal sand-mining in Punjab. She had maintained that the two central teams of the Ministry had already conducted inspection of mining sites in Ropar and Hoshiarpur districts, and now its inspection report was awaited.