MADURAI
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Dindigul Collector to submit a status report to the court on a public interest litigation petition that complained of soil theft taking place in Periyammapatti village near Palani in Dindigul district.
A Division Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and P. Velmurugan sought details of the vacant government land available in the village and the extent of soil theft that had taken place. The State submitted that a case was registered for soil theft.
Taking note of the submission, the court directed the Collector to conduct an inquiry to find out the extent of soil theft. The court sought to know what steps were initiated so far to stop soil theft.
What action would be taken to prevent soil theft, the judges asked and directed the authorities to expedite the investigation in the case. The judges also sought details of the present status of the soil theft case.
The court was hearing the public interest litigation petition filed by P. Ashok Kumar of Palani. He complained that influential people were lifting soil from the village lands that were fit for cultivation and were using it for producing bricks.
The petitioner said even after several complaints and representations were made to the authorities, no proper action had been initiated.
