A day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed sand mining auction, leaving Punjab government red-faced, it has come to light that the officials of its department of mines did not file a reply in the court on time. The failure of the department to file a reply to the notice of motion led the HC to stay the auction scheduled for December 27. The case will now come up for hearing on January 16, delaying the auction by at least a month.
Minister of Mines Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria told media that the notice of the court was put up for action very late. “We are trying to find out who caused this delay. We will fix responsibility and take action,” he said.
A government functionary, however, said that the notice of motion given to the state by the HC on December 6 was forwarded to the department last Friday. The case came up for hearing on Wednesday. The department still had two working days to prepare a reply, but it was not done. It is learnt that the officials of the department have got a rap from the chief secretary for the delay.
Sarkaria said the government would request the HC during the next hearing to allow the argument so that the auction could take place as soon as possible. “We will request the HC to allow the argument. Then we will give our point,” he said, adding that the government would demarcate the seven clusters that would be put on auction as per the court orders.
