State monopoly over river sand mining has not benefited people
Staff Reporter
For want of stringent rules to regulate middlemen, says Madurai Bench
MADURAI: The benefits of State monopoly over mining river sand had not reached the people for want of stringent rules to regulate middlemen, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court said on Monday.
Hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by sand stockists, a Division Bench comprising Justice Prafulla Kumar Misra and Justice P. R. Shivakumar said that the State Government had created “loop holes” for middlemen to swindle the end user of the mineral.
The stockists had sought a direction to restrain the PWD officials from interfering with their business. The petitioners claimed that the Government had no role to play once the mineral was sold to them.
A single Judge of the HC had referred the matter to the Division Bench for passing an authoritative ruling on the issue.
“When the Government wants to sell the sand directly to the public, how can there be a trade in between? Your (stockists’) intervention is not at all needed,” Mr. Justice Shivakumar told the petitioner’s counsel.
The counsel replied that raw sand could not be used for constructing buildings and hence the stockists processed the mineral before second sale. To this, the Judges said: “The processing can be done by the purchaser at the construction site itself. You need not interfere. Even if you are processing the sand, it amounts to manufacturing a product for which you are liable to pay a separate tax.”
The Judge further said that such interference of middlemen in the sand business was equivalent to smuggling goods meant for public distribution system.
Later, the Judges adjourned the matter to September 24 and directed the Special Government Pleader to find out the Government’s stand on the issue.
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