IN TIIE IIIGH COI'RT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

(Ctvtl .ll,ppellate Jurlsdiction|

W.A.No.1168 and 1169 of 2O15

Against
W.P. No.167L6 and 1964L of 2OL4

1) The State of Tamil Nadu

Represented by the
Secretary to the Government,
Industries Department
Fort St.George, Chennai.

2) The Special Committee appointed under,

G.O.(Ms) No.156 Represented by its
Chairperson;

3) Thiru G.Gagandeep Singh Bedi, I.A.S.,

Fort St. George, Chennai - 600 OO9.

4) The District Collector,

Tirunelveli District.

5) The District Collector ,

Thoothukudi District.

6) The State of Tamil Nadu,

Represented by the Chief Secretary to
Government
'Fort St. George,
Chennai - 600 OO9.

7) The Commissioner of Geolory and Mining, Appellants

Guindy, Chennai-32.
Vs

1. Mls. Transworld Garnet India hrt. Ltd.,

Rep. by its General Manager Stephen David,
No.34/46, MGR Road, First respondent in
Kalakshetra Colony, Besant Nagar, 1V.A.No.1168 of
Chennai- 600 O9O. 2015.
2. V.V. Mineral,
Represented by its Manager,
Keeraikaranthattu, Respondent in
Tisayanvilai ; Tirunelveli District. W.A.No.1169 of
2015
3. D.Dhaya Devadas,
1/580, 7th Street,
Veerbathran Nagar,
Medavakkam,
Second
Chennai- 600 10O.
Respondent in all
Writ Appeals

S. & n. I<* Principal SecretarY to Gflernment

Deputy Secretary to ir.rn*rnt S€cretariat, Chennai - 600 O09

lndustrios Department
Secretariat, Chennai .600 009
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ADDITIONAL REPLY AFFIqAVIT FILED BY TIIE APPELLANT

I, Vikram Kapur, S/o. Thiru. Baldev Kapur, Hindu aged about

51 years, Residing at No. X-I/III-3, SAF Games Village, Koyambedu,

Chennai - 600 tOZ do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely state as

follows:-

I am the Principal Secretary to Government, Industries

Department, Secretariat, Chennai-9 the First Appellant herein and as

such I am well acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case

from the available records, I submit that I am filing this Additional

Reply Aflidavit for myself and on behalf of 2"d to 7ft Appellants.

2. I humbly submit that in para 1 on page No.1 of the report

it has been stated that based on the news item in Economic Times, the
Director, Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change
Government of India, New Delhi has directed the Additional Chief
Conservator of Forests, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Regional

Office {SEZ), Chennai vide his letter dated 25.02.2015 to inspect the

sites of all the projects of V.V. Minerals (Total 3 Nos) Chandrakala Farm

Products Private Ltd and Thiru. K. Thangaraj and also other

unauthorized mining activities in the coastal areas in T\rticorin and

Kaniyakumari, if any, along with the officials of Tamil Nadu, Coastal

Zone Management Authority and State Pollution Control Board officials

and submit a report on the clearance status, compliance of the

conditions stipulated under clearance, present mining statuS, damage

caused to shorelines, groundwater quality, etc., and also to provide

information on Eco-Sensitive zones f areas in the vicinity of the above

said project areas any other relevant information.

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rnnciPal Secretary to G{ernment
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0enu,ry Secretary to Governrrreni s""r"iJti"t, Ghennaii- 600
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subsequently the Director, Ministry of Environment and

Forest and climate change, Regional office (south Eastern zonel,

chennai vide tetter dated 16.04.2075 has informed the commissioner of

Geolory and Mining, Member secretarlr / Director of Environment,

Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone ,Management Authority and the Member
Secretar5r, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board that he has planned for

a Joint Inspection dlong with officials of Department of Mines and

Geolory, Tamil Nadu coastal zone Management Authority and Tamil
Nadu Pollution Control Board and therefore requested to depute the

concerned of{icials to coordinate the visit.

3.BasedontherequestoftheDirector,Ministryof
Environment and Forest and Climate Change, Regional Office (South

Eastern zonel, chennai, the commissioner of GeoloSl and Mining vide

proceedings Rc.No.2773/MM7 l2Al4, dated 18.o4.2O15 has deputed

the Assistant Directors of Geologr and Mining, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi

and Karryakumari along with their Assistant Geologists to assist and to

identify the mining lease granted areas of beach sand minerals during

the joint inspection to be conducted by the Director, Ministry of

Environment and Forest and Climate Change, Regional office (South

Eastern Zone), Chennai.

4. I humbly submit that the subject inspection was carried out

during 24.04.2015 to 27.O4.2OL5 by the Director, Ministry of

Environment and Forest and Climate Change, Regional Office (South

Eastern Zone), Chennai only based on the instruction glven by the

Director, Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change,
Government of India. In the Joint inspection, the Tamil Nadu Coastal

Zone Mattagement Authority officials are not participated.

PrinciPalSecretarY to rnment
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lndustries DeP
DeButy Secretary to Government Secretariat, Chennai - 009
lndustries DePartment
Secretariat. Chennai - 600 009
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5. I humbly submit that the said Joint inspection was conducted

only on the basis of news published in Economic times. The

report is

mainly focused on illegal beach sand mining of atomic minerals like

Monazite, carried out along the southern coastline of Tamil Nadu'

Forest and
The Joint Inspection report of Ministry of Environment and

Climate Change, reveals that the coastal Zorle authority was not
of the
involved in the inspection and further the remarks of the officials

Department of Atomic EnerSr was not obtained, since the Department

ofAtomicEnerryistheauthoritytospeakaboutthepresenceand
exploitation of Atomic Minerals including Monozite in the coastai
areas

of Tamil Nadu. The validity of the report without consulting the

department of Atomic Enerry is not correct'

6'IhumblysubmitthatinthepageNo.2ofparal,itisstated
that the Joint inspection was carried out only for 4 days i'e. from
24.O4.2OL5to 27.04.2015 in the Mining lease hold areas in respect of
Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kaniyakumari districts and also the
coastal belt of the 3 districts.

7. I humbly submit that on perusal of the 14 Annexures of the

Joint Inspection report, it is seen that instead of furnishing the details
of the areas covered by the inspection team in 4 days with map and
supporting technical reports from individual department officials, they

have enclosed the details which were unnecessarJi to the tasks of the

Joint InsPection Team.

8. I humbly submit that therefore it is not possible to conduct

detailed study on illicit mining of Beach Sand Minerals including
Garnet, Ilminite, Rutile, Monozite, etc., in zl days by Joint Inspection

Team. Further, at the time of Joint Inspection, the State Government

ent
Prineipal SecroiarY to Gov
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Dpputy Soeretary to Governrnent Secrer.ariat, Chennai
lndustries Depariment
$ee retariat, Chennai - 600 009
 -

banned all the Beach Sand Mining activities in the said 3 districts from
P.
September 2013. Hence the statement that'no illegal mining either

'within the lease area or outside the lease area, by any of the mining

lessee' made in page No.S of para 2 is not acceptable one.

The Government have not agreed the joint inspection report, since as

per G.O. Ms No 156 and G.O. Ms.No.173 a special team headed by the

then revenue secretarSr Mr.Gagandeep Singh Bedi, I.A.S., constituted

and the team carried out inspections on illegal mining and
transportation of Beach sand Minerals in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and

Kaniyakumari Districts except Madurai and Trichy districts. In this

connection, the state of Tamil Nadu ordered to stop Beach Sand Mining

activities by the private players in Tamil Nadu. Further, as ordered by

the Honble Court, the report of Special Team Head Mr. Gagandeep

Singh Bedi, I.A.S., on Thoothukudi District has been already submitted

before the Hon'ble Court.

9. I humbly submit that in page No.4 (paru 4l of the Joint

Inspection report it is mentioned that all the mining lessees have

obtained licenses from Atomic Energr Regulatory Board for which they

have not enclosed the copy of the licenses obtained from Atomic Energr

Regulatory Board in their inspection report.

10. I humlly submit that in page No.S (para 1) of the Joint

Inspection Report it is stated that all the mining operations were carried

out as per the approved mining plan. However, supporting documents

of approved mining plan are not enclosed.

11. I humbly submit that in para No.l on page 5 of the Joint

Inspection report, without verifying the reconciled statement of State

Government and without enclosing the export details of all Beach Sand

Principal Secretary to G ent

J. e. r+ l<** lndustries
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Deputy $eeretary to Government
lndustries Department
Sde retariat, Chennai - 600 009
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Minerals of all lessees, the Joint lnspection Team established

that all

theexportsarewithinthelimitandroyaltypaidmineralonly.The
Tiruneiveli
District Level Committee convened by the District collector,

as per G.O.Ms.No.179, Industries (MMD'1) Department' dated

27.7.2OL5 on 18.10.2016 and 9.11.2016 reported

that excess quantum
and Leucoxene
of raw sand, Garnet, Ilmenite, Rrrtile, Zircon, Silliminite

against the quantity permitted in the approved mining

plan / approved

scheme of mining were transported by Tvl' V'V' Minerals

in respect of

their 2O mining lease hold areas out of 27 areas' In view of

the

violations of illegal mining and transport of raw Sand, Garnet, Ilmenite,

Rutile, zircon, silliminite and Leucoxene detected for the period

from

2OOO 2OO1 to 2Ot5-2O16 the royalty account settled,

if any' early for
-
any periods shall be construed as null and void' Hence the
transported materials had already been suffered royalty is not correct'

Likewise accounts related to Tvl. Transworld Garnet India Private

Limited, TVl.Beach Mineral Sand Company, TVl.Indian ocean Garnet

Sand Company are all in the same line'

L2. It is humbly submitted that, the state Government have not

gfanted any permission to carry out inspection after the ban of beach

sand mining in the state. However the subject inspection report should

be construed as report of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and

climate change in terms of the environmental aspects on mining and

not as the joint Inspection Report prepared by the central Government

and State Government in terrns of illegal mining aspects since the

Department of Geolory and Mining ofticials were only directed to assist

in identifying tJre lease hold areas for conducting inspection by the

Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change'

rnment
Principal SecretarY to
S. t?. r". lc*.,^ lndustries D€Parrlnertt - -
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Deputy SecretarY to Governmcnt Secretariat, Chennai '600
lndustries DePartment
Secretariat' Chsnnai '600 009
 7

13. It is humbly submitted. that after the ban of two years, it is

reported that iilicit mining activities have been take placd and hence,

the District Collectors were already instructed to take stringent action

to curb illicit mining and transportation of Beach Sand Mining.

Therefore, the Joint Inspection Report of the Director, Ministry of

Environment, Forest and climate change, Regional office (sEz),

Chennai in the coastal areas of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and
Kaniyakumari Districts is not correct one.

14. It is humbly submitted that the District Collector, Tirunelveli

has also sent a report vide letter No.M3/4O36512OL5, dated 31.08.2016

that the Sub-Collector, Cheranmadevi during the inspection on

11.08.2016 in Radhapuram Taluk seized three vehicles and one loader

for illicit transportation of Beach Sand Minerals and vehicles were

handed over to the Uvari Police Station and Criminal Complaint filed in

F.I.R.No.83 lt6 against the vehicle owner, Director of Tvl V.V. Minerai

and Director of IMC. Further, in Thoothukudi District 9 vehicles were

seized for the illicit transportation of Beach Sand Minerals. Besides,

in Krishnagiri District one vehicle has been seized for illegal

transportation of ilmenite mineral without valid transport permit. In

this connection. criminal action has been initiated against

Tvl V.V.Minerals, vehicle driver and owner in FIR No.Sla/2016 dated

7.12.2A16.

L5. Under the circumstances stated, in the above paras, the State

Government have taken effective steps to curb illegal mining activity

and illegal transportation of Beach Sand Minerais in Thoothukudi,

Tirunelveli and Kaniyakumari districts through Taluk level and District

Level task Force committee. The 4 days Joint Inspection report could

-S.R n. l<._-
Depuly Secretary to
Government menl
rnoustnes Department Principal SecretarY to
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Secretariat, Chennai
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not reflect the actual statua of what happened in the three coastal
aistf&e$,.',Ecf ;'trhe ta&.G@1t€ffl$ nt have not corrside*ed,,tte +i1t
Inq&€tiun Report eorrce ' *tU,itttcit rainieg of coa-stai'sarr$,iln ttti$

r€gqfdr'the doc'unret+ts, eirqloeed' as fuitrcxur€','diomg urith t}e, Joint

Inspection Report are irrelevant to th€ task of tJre inspecti,on and

re.r'the Uontile,'l{i i&urt.of M&drfe€. $ot tf*+ olt reeoid the

Joint Inspection Report and render justice.

$ghnnrrly-. affrTd at ehennar, . .

This , ., day of W|4 , $acr*tatieti Chennal'@q'W

and signed his name in my
preSenc€

Deputy Secr6tary to Govemment

lndustnes D€partment
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