more-in Taking cognisance of indiscriminate illegal sand mining taking place in the State and a number of petitions being filed against such activities, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday suo motu impleaded the Home Secretary in the case and directed the Collectors in the State not to release any vehicles involved in illegal sand mining. A Division Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Sathish Kumar directed the Collectors not to release any vehicles - be it four wheelers or bullock carts. However, in the case of bullock carts, the bulls could be released and the carts be retained. The court also added that no courts should entertain request from owners seeking release of their vehicles. The court said that in most of the cases the action initiated towards such transportation amounted to only imposing fine. The indiscriminate mining had led to destruction of riverbeds. The court also took note of a Niti Aayog’s report which claimed that by 2050 the entire State could run out of water. Chennai would be one among 21 cities where groundwater would completely run out thereby affecting the people, the report had said. The case was adjourned to October 11. The Division Bench had earlier directed status quo be maintained against establishment of sand quarry in Pudukottai district. The petitioner, N.K. Pandiyaraman of Pudukottai, said the proposed sand quarry on the banks of Vellar river which flowed through Manamelkudi taluk in Pudukottai district would affect agricultural activities in the region, where most of the people were agriculturalists. He also claimed that quarrying operations could lead to depletion of groundwater.

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