IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH COCP. No. 334 of 2011 Date of Decision: 28.7.2011. Hari Singh & others --Petitioners Versus Gurdev Singh & others --Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI. Present:- Mr. K.K. Goel, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. G.S. Cheema, Sr. D.A.G., Punjab for respondents no.1 to 4. Mr. J.S. Bhandohal, Advocate for respondents no.5 & 6. *** PERMOD KOHLI.J (ORAL) This contempt petition arises out of order dated 12.6.2009 passed by the Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court in CWP No. 9110 of 2009 and order dated 31.8.2010 passed in COCP No. 1631 of 2009. In the writ petition (Annexure P-1), following order was passed:- “ Mr. Parveen Goyal, Additional Advocate General, Punjab appearing for respondents no.1 to 4 has stated that State is aware about continuation of illegal mining in the area specified by the petitioners. Counsel for the State submits that necessary action will be taken within a week and illegal mining shall be stopped forthwith and all necessary effective steps will be taken that no illegal mining take place in future. In view of the statement made by the counsel for the State, Mr.Sarjit Singh, Sr. counsel on instructions from Ms.Poonam Sambhar, counsel for the petitioners state that present writ petition be disposed of as having been rendered infructuous. As prayed, disposed off as infructuous.” For alleged violation of the aforesaid undertaking the petitioner filed CWP No. 1631 of 2009 which came to be disposed of vide order dated 31.8.2010 with the following observations:- COCP. No. 334 of 2011 -2- “ The grievance of the petitioners is that even though such statement was made before this Court but still illegal mining activities are permitted to be continued in the specified area. Detailed replies have been filed on behalf of the respondents. Mr. Berry states that criminal proceedings have been initiated by lodging of FIRs at the instance of Mining Officer against the persons engaged in illegal mining. The affidavits filed on behalf of Deputy Commissioner and Mining Officer are to. In view of the said fact, no further orders are called for in the present contempt petition. It shall be open to the petitioners to point out any instance of illegal mining to the authorities. The authorities shall be taken necessary action as per law. Disposed of in the above terms.” Two sets of replies have been filed on behalf of respondents no.3 and 4. In the reply/affidavit of Mining Officer, Department of Industries, S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali, respondent no.3, the steps taken to stop the illegal mining have been narrated. The same are reproduced hereunder:- “(i) Two mining guards and Block Level Extension Officer has been deployed to check the illegal mining and no such activity has been observed/reported. (ii) The contract of extraction of minor mineral from this Quarry (shamlat land of Chadiala Village) has been allotted to Gurpal Singh and Sukhpal Singh for the contract period 4.8.2010 to 3.2.2011 which was later extended upto 30.6.2011. During this contract the contractor, petitioners have not reported any violation to the deponent. (iii) That the deponent has requested to S.H.O Dera Bassi to keep vigilant of any illegal activity in this area. (iv) That now the deponent has allotted the new contract w.e.f. 1.7.2011 to 30.6.2014 but the shamlat land of Chadiala village has not been auctioned till date. (v) That the deponent has already imposed penalty to the tune of Rs.1,08,46,900/- against the 15 persons who were involved in the illegal mining mentioned in the F.I.R for which the Collector, Mohali has been requested to recover the said amount from the guilty persons.” COCP. No. 334 of 2011 -3- From the above, it appears that all possible steps have been taken to stop the illegal mining. It has also come on record that an FIR has been registered against 15 persons, who are indulging in illegal mining including the petitioners. Even the penalty of Rs.1,08,46,900/- has been imposed upon these 15 persons. It seems that the petitioners are also amongst those 15 persons against whom the penalty has been imposed and F.I.R has been registered. From the replies the Court is apparently satisfied that appropriate steps have been taken to check illegal mining. In view of the above circumstances, the present contempt proceedings are hereby dropped. However, this shall not prevent the petitioners or any other person to again approach this Court, if, at any stage it is found that the illegal mining is continued. (PERMOD KOHLI) JUDGE 28.7.2011. lucky