V.V. Minerals, a company trading in beach minerals and represented by its Managing Partner S. Vaikundarajan, has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court Bench here accusing government officials of delaying since 2001 the grant of lease to mine ilmenite and rutile from five hectares of unsurveyed coastal lands at Agastheeswaram taluk in Kanniyakumari district. In an affidavit, filed along with the petition, Mr. Vaikundarajan said that his company had been carrying on trade in beach minerals for the last 25 years.
“The petitioner has established a number of factories in Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari and Thoothukudi and all mined minerals are used in their own factory as raw material. The finished mineral products are exported, and thus, the highly needed foreign exchange is earned to our nation,” the petitioner stated, claiming that the application for Agastheeswaram was submitted way back in 2001.
