Jharkhand govt penalised by HC for not filing affidavit in illegal sand mining case

: Jharkhand High Court Wednesday slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on the state government for failing to file an affidavit in a public interest litigation onalleged illegal sand mining. The court passed the order in connection with a PIL filed by the Federation of Jharkhand Sand Traders Association. The penalty was ordered by a division bench of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen. The court had on March 22 ordered the government to file an affidavit but as it failed to do so, the division bench imposed the cost on the state for non compliance. The Jharkhand State Minerals Development Corporation filed its affidavit and informed the high court that strict action is taken against the sand mafia indulging in illegal mining of the minor mineral