Nainital: In a blow to the state government, the Uttarakhand High Court has put a stay on its mining policy that was rolled out on October 28 last year. Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar Misra and Justice Alok Kumar Verma on Thursday, while hearing a petition challenging the policy's constitutionality, directed the state government to file a reply in the matter in four weeks.
The petition filed by Satyendra Kumar Tomar terms the new mining policy arbitrary and in violation of Article 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution. It is "an attempt to indulgingly convert state mining policy of competitive bidding into a mutual consent cum recommendation" system, it said.
The petitioner claimed that the policy was erroneous as apart from not following the process of competitive bidding, it creates a huge pricing differential at the source base bereft of any intelligible differentia.
Thus, it goes against the doctrine of equality, he said.
It also authenticates "cutting down" of hills which is detrimental to the environment, the petitioner claimed.