The Supreme Court on Tuesday lambasted the Haryana government for its 'complicity' in the unabated illegal mining in Aravali hills and Gurgaon area despite repeated ban orders.
A Bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice Tarun Chatterjee issued contempt notices against two senior state government officials.
It told the counsel to convey to the state government that the law will deal with those indulging in illegal mining even if the state wished to protect them.
When the counsel claimed that no illegal mining was taking place, an enraged Justice Sabharwal pointed to the photographs annexed with the application showing mining activities going on in full swing. "I have seen it with my own eyes also," he said.
The court also warned the Om Prakash Chautala government about the consequences of not implementing the order.
"Do not force us to deploy paramilitary forces to implement our orders," the Bench said while issuing contempt notices to Deputy Commissioner Anurag Agrawal and Inspector General of Police (Gurgaon Range) Swaranjit Singh.
The court also asked the state chief secretary and the two contemnors to file their affidavit within three weeks stating as to what action had been taken against those who carried out the illegal mining.
The Aravali hills, which extend from Haryana to Rajasthan, act as a natural buffer stopping the Thar deserts from expanding towards the northern agricultural plains. Experts had termed the hill range as most eco-sensitive.
The Ministry for Environment and Forests, too, got a lot of flak from the SC for not submitting, despite repeated orders, a report on the impact of illegal mining on the ecology of the hill range.
"If this is the attitude of the Ministry of Environment and Forest towards the apex court, what would be its attitude towards the lower courts?" the Bench wondered while giving one last opportunity to the ministry to file the report within three weeks.
Castigating the Haryana government, the bench said the SC had made it clear on November 25, 2002 that the deputy commissioner and the IG would be personally responsible for implementing the court order.
The Bench at one point of time even said that 'all these officers must go. They must be put under suspension'. "How can the illegal mining go on without their complicity?" the court asked.
Terming the action taken by the Haryana government to constitute a committee for implementing the court's orders as mere 'paper work', the Bench said it is prima facie clear that mining activity has been going on unabated.