Selling sand in ‘units’ is illegal: High Court

Pointing out that the law permits sale of river sand only by its weight and not by measures such as units, the Madras High Court Bench here on Tuesday said the State government would have to give up the practice of selling it in units and come up with a proposal on establishing weigh bridges at quarry sites to weigh the mineral sold.

A Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and M.V. Muralidaran directed Special Government Pleader M. Govindan to obtain instructions from the Public Works Department on the observations made by them and inform the court by Friday. They also said that a Government Order passed in 2008 permitting sale of sand in units must be withdrawn.

“The law is very clear. It says sand could be sold only by its weight and not measure. You have been simply violating the law for years together. How did you allow this illegality for years together? Even for measurement, you should use standardised measurement tools sealed by the Metrology department. Where is all that?” Mr. Justice Nagamuthu asked.

Replying to it, the SGP said that one unit of sand would roughly weigh about 4,968 kg and hence the government through the G.O. issued on May 31, 2008 had permitted sale of three units of sand per truck at the rate of Rs.300 for every unit. He also said that similar procedures were adopted by other States too across the country.

Disagreeing with him, the judge said: “Three units of dry sand will measure differently compared to three units of wet sand. Similarly, the presence of pebbles and other stones will vary the measure. When you insist even a vegetable seller on the road should use only standardised measurement tools, how can sand alone be sold without such regulations?”

The observations were made during the hearing of a PIL petition filed by Tiruchi-based advocate M. Rajendran challenging the 2008 G.O. He had claimed that every valuable thing must be weighed in terms of its weight as per the Legal Metrology Act. He also pointed out that the public exchequer was losing revenue due to sale of sand in units.

‘The law is very clear. It says sand could be sold only

by its weight and

not measure’