The Madras High Court on Friday discharged IAS officer U. Sagayam from the responsibilities of Special Officer/Legal Commissioner to inspect and enquire into illegal granite mining activities in Madurai district.
The court relieved him since he had completed the inspections and submitted his report along with its errata on November 23, 2015 and January 4, 2016 respectively.
Mr. Sagayam was appointed Legal Commission by the court on September 11, 2014.
A Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and G. Jayachandran observed in their discharge order that no person connected with the court ordered enquiry should be victimised or threatened by anyone and that it was the sovereign duty of the State to protect the individuals concerned.
The observation was made after advocate M. Radhakrishnan, representing Mr. Sagayam, claimed that the IAS officer and his family were facing life threat.
The advocate told the court that an individual named S. Parthasarathy, who had helped the Legal Commissioner to inspect the water-logged granite quarries with the help of an unmanned aerial survey vehicle, met with a “sudden and unnatural death.”
‘Life under threat’
Therefore, lives of many people, including M. Sevarkodiyon of Keezhavalavu, who gave information on alleged human sacrifices made by the mining lessees, were under threat, he said. He also pointed out that two cases had been booked by Tallakulam police in Madurai with respect to letters written by one Kumar and N. Kasthuri Ranga Iyyangar on December 15, 2014 and March 9, 2015 respectively threatening the Legal Commissioner and his family members.
In so far as winding up of the commission was concerned, the lawyer said more than 60% of the documents were handed over to the Registrar General of the High Court for safe custody. Most of the electronic devices were returned to the Deputy Director of Geology and Mining last year. Stating that the commission functioned with skeletal staff, he wanted the government to settle outstanding amount of ₹1.73 lakh alone towards actual expenses.
It was also brought to the notice of the court that the Legal Commissioner’s report running into more than 600 pages along with annexure comprised in 31 volumes was in the safe custody of the Registrar General. Additional Advocate General B. Pugalendhi informed the court that the State government had accepted 131 out of 212 recommendations made by Mr. Sagayam and that 14 of his other recommendations fell under the purview of the Centre.
After recording the submissions, the judges adjourned the case to April 6. They dismissed two petitions filed by PRP Granites of Madurai seeking a direction to the police to clarify to the Reserve Bank of India and the VOC Port authorities in Thoothukudi that freezing of their bank accounts and prevention of exports through the port would apply only to their business from out of quarries situated in Madurai district and not to those in other districts.
The judges also dismissed two writ petitions filed by Indian Bank which claimed the right to sell the granite blocks and other raw materials which had been hypothecated with it by the granite major.
