HC agrees to hear PIL on illegal mining on defence land

The Delhi High Court today agreed to hear a PIL alleging illegal mining on a defence land at the banks of river Yamuna in Faridabad and Noida.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and C Hari Shankar said it would hear the plea on May 16.

The plea filed by a man, who claimed to be a whistle blower, said illegal sand mining was going on at defence land situated at the Tilpat Ranges 1 and 2 on the banks of Yamuna in Faridabad (Haryana) and Noida, which falls in the Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

The petitioner said he has made representations to various authorities including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who forwarded it to the Ministry of Defence and to the Indian Air Force.

He said the illegal activities caused loss of over Rs 29 crore to the exchequer.

The plea also sought a direction to the CBI to enquire into serious offences of corrupt practices in compliance with a letter issued by the Prime Minister's Office in October 2016.

It said the whistleblower had earlier filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal against the illegal mining activities of sand mafias on the defence land and the tribunal had in 2013 prohibited mining activity which was being carried out in Faridabad.

The man had earlier also approached the high court seeking his relocation to the national capital from Haryana where he was allegedly facing threat to his life for raising the issue of illegal sand mining.