The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has dismissed a petition that sought a direction to the authorities to restrain a man from carrying out sand mining activities near a portion of land located near a pond in Virudhunagar district.
The court was hearing a petition filed by C. Panthanam of Kariapatti, Virudhunagar district. She had sought a direction to the authorities to restrain R. Chitirai Velu from carrying out sand mining activities from the land in Kariapatti.
She complained that rampant mining on the land had affected the nearby waterbody and also resulted in reduced groundwater level. She also sought a direction to the authorities to cancel the licence granted to Chithirai Velu for mining purposes.
A Division Bench of Justices Paresh Upadhyay and R. Vijayakumar dismissed the petition. It was submitted that there was a dispute between the parties. The court observed the petition was styled as a public interest litigation petition and therefore needed to be dismissed.
