Vishal vs State Of Haryana And Others
2023 Latest Caselaw 9198 P&H

                                                  Neutral Citation No:=2023:PHHC:082965-DB




                                                              2023:PHHC:082965-DB

           IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT
                          CHANDIGARH

Sr. No.132                                        CWP-13772-2023 (O&M)
                                                  Date of decision : 03.07.2023

Vishal                                                              ..... Petitioner

                                     VERSUS

State of Haryana and others                                       ..... Respondents

CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE JAISHREE THAKUR
       HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SUKHVINDER KAUR

Present:      Mr. Akshay Bhan, Sr. Advocate with
              Mr. A.S. Talwar, Advocate, for the petitioner.

              Ms. Tanisha Peshawaria, DAG, Haryana.
                                  *****

JAISHREE THAKUR, J. (Oral)

The present writ petition has been filed seeking to challenge

notice dated 30.05.2023 (Annexure P-8), whereby, mining rights for the

excavation of minor minerals of District Yamuna Nagar are sought to be

auctioned.

Learned Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner

along with Mr. A.S. Talwar, Advocate would urge that as per the

Notifications dated 15.01.2016 (Annexure P-2) and 25.07.2018 (Annexure

P-5) as issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, it

is mandatory for prior environmental clearance to be obtained for mining of

minor minerals in terms of judgment rendered by the Supreme Court in SLP

(c) Nos. 19628-19629 of 2009 titled as Deepak Kumar etc. Vs. State of

Haryana and others. The application for environmental clearance is to be

based upon a District Survey Report (DSR) which is to be prepared after

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every five years by the State. Counsel would further urge that the last report

prepared was in the year 2017 and that the auction which is proposed to be

held is in violation of the notifications as the DSR has not been prepared as

on date. He would further submit that there is a procedure for preparing the

DSR and for finalizing it. On the preparation of DSR, objections are invited

by putting up the report on public domain and any objections, if received,

are to be decided within a period of 15 days. Thereafter, on dealing with the

objections and finalization of the same, the DSR is thereafter uploaded.

Mr. Akshay Bhan, Sr. Advocate therefore, prays for stay of the

auction proceedings as the auction being conducted is in violation of the

notifications.

Notice of motion.

Ms. Tanisha Peshawaria, DAG, Haryana, accepts notice on

behalf of the respondent-State.

Learned State counsel on instructions from Mr. Sanjay

Sabharwal, Mining Engineer, Department of Mines & Geology would fairly

submit that as on date, the DSR has not been finalized though it is under

preparation. She would argue that the auction has been conducted on the

basis of a ground-truthing report. She would rely upon page No.248 of

Enforcement & Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining which specifies that

District Survey Report for sand mining shall be prepared before the

auction/e-auction/grant of the mining lease/Letter of Intent (LOI) by Mining

department or the department dealing the mining activity in respective

States. She would argue that even though the District Survey Report has not

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been uploaded as yet, there is no bar to conduct an auction, since the Letter

of Intent will be issued after the DSR has been uploaded.

I have heard the learned counsels for the parties and in view of

the fact that the notifications as relied upon by learned Senior Advocate,

clearly mandate that DSR is to be prepared which is to be relied upon by any

auction bidder while applying for environmental clearance. He would be put

to jeopardy in case the auction is finalized today. On the statement given by

learned counsel, appearing on behalf of the State on instructions received,

that LOI would only be issued after the DSR is uploaded. This Court deems

it appropriate to dispose of the writ petition with a direction that the auction

being held currently to continue, however, the auction will not be finalized

nor will any LOI be issued till such time as the DSR is prepared, objections

invited and dealt with and the final DSR uploaded on the public domain.

This Court draws strength from the order dated 28.06.2023, as passed by the

Supreme Court, in Civil Appeal No.319/2023 titled as M/s Delhi Royalty

Company Vs. Union of India and others, where under similar

circumstances the court has directed that the process pursuant to the auction

notice to the extent to which the applicant was earlier granted the lease and

is the subject matter herein, shall not be finalised even if the bidding process

is held and concluded.

(JAISHREE THAKUR) JUDGE

(SUKHVINDER KAUR) JUDGE

03.07.2023 Ramandeep Singh Whether speaking / reasoned Yes/No Whether Reportable Yes/No Neutral Citation No:=2023:PHHC:082965-DB

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