HC stays mining at a tehsil near Yamuna river in UP

The Allahabad High Court today stayed mining activities at Behat tehsil near Yamuna river bank and directed Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to file a personal affidavit seeking the report of District Magistrate of Saharanpur along with photographs in the case of alleged illegal mining.
A vacation bench of Justice Arun Tandon and Justice Anil Kumar passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Ranvir Singh.
The petioner sought a direction to stop the use of heavy mining machines like Focklane or JVCs in view of environmental protection concerns.
A direction was also sought for strict compliance of the court's orders to stop illegal mining.

The petitioner alleged that some people were indulging in illegal mining at the river bed of Yamuna in Behat tehsil on the basis of void lease deed and also using heavy machines for the same which have already been restrained by the court.
On behalf of the state government, Additional Advocate General Bulbul Godiyal raised preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition, stating that the matter related to Shahjahanpur district hence the PIL was not maintainable here.
She also sought time to file the state's response to the PIL and opposed the allegations.
The court, while passing the order, fixed July 13 as the next date of hearing.