Chandigarh, April 20
Severe strictures were passed on the Haryana Mining Department by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Mr Justice Jawahar Lal Gupta and Mr Justice N.K. Sud here today while directing the CBI to inquire into the mining operations in Faridabad district.

The Bench issued these directions while disposing of a writ petition filed by a Faridabad-based journalist, Subhash Sharma, who had alleged that the Haryana Cooperation Minister, Mr Kartar Singh Bhadana, and his associate, Mr Ram Kishan, in connivance with the officials were carrying out illegal mining operations in the Ishaq Mandi area of Faridabad district.

The petition had come up for hearing on October 19 last. An advocate of the High Court, Mr R.S. Bains, was appointed the Local Commissioner (LC) to ascertain the factual position. He found the allegations to be true. A notice of motion was issued to the state and other respondents.

The state appointed the Financial Commissioner (Home), Mr B.D. Dhalia, to inquire into the allegations. On behalf of the state, Advocate-General Surya Kant Sharma told the court that the state had accepted the LC’s report prima facie and had asked the state Vigilance Bureau to register a case and investigate it. The S.P. (Vigilance), at Gurgaon, Mr P.K. Aggarwal, submitted his report to the court on April 4.

Appearing for Mr Bhadana, Mr P.S. Patwalia, denied the allegations against his client. He said Mr Sharma had filed the petition in extraneous considerations. He said any inquiry, ordered by the court, should not be directed against Mr Bhadana and Mr Ram Kishan alone but should be broadbased to include anyone indulging in illegal mining.

Mr Arun Jain, counsel for Mr Ram Kishan, denied that his client was functioning in connivance with Mr Bhadana.

The Bench observed that from the reports of the L.C., Mr Dhalia and Mr Aggarwal (the court was not satisfied with the reports of Mr Dhalia and Mr Aggarwal), it was clear that illegal mining was being done in the area. Only a thorough probe would reveal who did the illegal mining, who was responsible for the loss to the public exchequer and whether there was connivance of Mining Department officers.

Speaking for the Bench, Mr Justice Gupta said ordinarily it was the prerogative of the state to investigate all offences committed within its jurisdiction. However, in the present case allegations have been levelled against a person who held the Cabinet Minister’s post in the government. Though two opportunities were given to the state to investigate the allegations levelled by the petitioner, it missed both.

Entrusting the inquiry to the CBI, the Judges said they were of the view that investigation should inspire confidence in public mind. The CBI should register a case and conduct investigations into the mining of minerals in Faridabad district. It should also look into the officers’ conduct to find out whether they were guilty of any offence. The agency was asked to complete the investigations at the earliest possible, preferably within six months.

Coming down heavily on the Mining Department, Mr Justice Gupta said from the perusal of Mr Dhalia’s report, it was revealed that the area (under mining) had not even been demarcated. Under the circumstances, he wondered, how the Director of Mines and Geology was permitting the mining operations without land demarcation.

The Bench said it was constrained to observe that the officers had failed to perform their duty and their negligence and inaction had caused a loss to the state exchequer.