Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ordered notice and sought response from the State on a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to the Tirunelveli Collector to take appropriate action against erring government officials who were responsible for the death of four workers and serious injuries sustained by two workers at a stone quarry at Adaimithippankulam near Munneerpallam in Tirunelveli district.
A Division Bench of Justices R. Subramanian and L. Victoria Gowri sought response from the State on the petition filed by S.M.A. Pon Gandhimathinathan of Thoothukudi district. The petitioner said that on May 14, a giant boulder rolled down into the quarry pit at Adaimithippankulam which resulted in the death of four workers at the stone quarry and two workers sustaining serious injuries.
The Tirunelveli police had registered a case against the owners of Venkateshwara Stone Crusher and the criminal case is pending. The officials - Tahsildar Avudaiyappan; Assistant Director of Mines Vinoth; Inspector of Police Thillai Nagarajan; and Village Administrative Officer Jeyaraman - were responsible for not acting against the violation in the stone quarry. While Vinoth was initially suspended, subsequently he was reinstated in the same post in Theni district.
A Government Order was issued in 2019 and a direction was issued to the Collectors to prevent illegal quarrying. A special cell was directed to be formed at the district level to review matters on a monthly basis and fix the responsibility. The main objective of the G.O. was to curb the menace of illegal quarrying and transportation of minerals. The Collector should take departmental action against the erring officials and send a report to the government, the petitioner said.
Though the G.O. was issued in 2019, the officials failed to take appropriate action and curb the menace of illegal quarrying. This led to the death of four persons and two workers sustaining serious injuries at the quarry in Tirunelveli district. Therefore, appropriate action should be taken against the officials who were responsible for the same, the petitioner said.
