Madras High Court upholds ban on sand quarrying

The bench also upheld the earlier order allowing import of sand from Malaysia. “It is not in dispute that the state has been unsuccessful in curbing illegal mining. 

Even after all the committees and frequent interventions from the High Court in many cases, the illegal mining in the state has not stopped and the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) has also not been obtained by following due procedures,” a division bench, comprising Justices K Kalyanasundaram and T Krishnavalli said, while dismissing the writ appeals moved by the state. 

Seeking to lift the ban imposed by the single judge, the government argued that the direction was in the nature of legislating laws, which the court could not issue. According to Advocate General Vijay Narayan, this would amount to transgression into the powers of legislature and making the application of separation of powers redundant. Narayan contended that the state has powers to control the storage and transportation of imported sand. 

Also, the imported sand is silica sand, which could not be used for construction but only for industrial purposes, he said, arguing that the single judge travelled beyond the scope of the writ petition to issue the directions as if it were a public interest litigation. 

However, refuting the government’s contention, the bench said an examination of the order issued by the single judge revealed that they were not legislative directions as the Advocate General argued, but instead, directions issued for non-compliance of statutory provisions and for failure to safeguard the environment and the ecology. 

“In the opinion of this court, [this is a] duty enshrined with the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution,” held the bench. 

“The grant of monopoly to the state to quarry does not mean that the state is empowered to restrict the import, which falls within the domain of central government. Insofar as the contention that the sand imported with 81.6% of silica is not fit for construction, this court is of the view that the same is not backed by scientific evidence. 

“On the contrary, from the materials available before this court about sand, only when the percentage of silica is over 95%, it could be used for industrial purpose. Therefore, the contention that the sand with higher silica is only industrial sand cannot be accepted,” the bench added.