The Madras High Court on Monday granted eight more weeks for U.Sagayam, an IAS officer and court-appointed Legal Commissioner, to inspect and report about granite mining in Madurai.
The First Bench comprising the Chief Justice S.K.Kaul and Justice M.Sathyanarayanan passed the order when a writ petition by K.R.Ramasamy alias ‘Traffic’ Ramasamy, a social activist, came up for further hearing.
The court also made it clear that the Centre should file its counter within three weeks, the extra time granted for the purpose. Failure to file the counter by the deadline would invite Rs.10,000 as costs.
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When the matter came up, the officer’s counsel sought more time to complete the task. On September 11, the court had appointed Mr.Sagayam to inspect the mines and submit a report.
The petitioner had said there was illegal quarrying of mines in the State. Even ‘Bhoomidhan’ lands given to SC/STs in Madurai and Pudukottai districts, government poromboke lands and patta lands had not been spared by illegal miners.