Noida: National Green Tribunal has questioned the fairness of a police probe into alleged illegal sand mining on the Yamuna floodplain in Ghaziabad, asking why an FIR was lodged against “unknown persons” even though the activity was reported from within a notified mining lease area.Pointing to “serious concerns” in the police response, the tribunal asked the Ghaziabad police commissioner to file a detailed affidavit explaining the investigation and identifying those involved at least a day before the next hearing on April 9. It also asked the district task force to carry out a detailed site inspection.The principal bench, comprising judicial member Arun Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel, passed the order while hearing a batch of pleas in the long-running case on illegal mining on the Yamuna floodplain, linked to the matter titled Bittu vs State of UP and others, pending since 2023.The case takes off from the tribunal’s Jan 29 order restraining all mining by project proponent M/s New Panther Security Guard Services in view of GRAP-3 restrictions issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management. The company challenged that order in Supreme Court, but its appeal was dismissed on Feb 26.During the hearing on March 19, the bench noted that, in purported compliance with its Jan 29 order, police had registered an FIR against “unknown persons” and the unknown owner of an excavator. The tribunal said the reply filed by the Ghaziabad police commissioner and the FIR itself raised “serious questions” about the fairness of the action and investigation.It said the key issue was how the FIR could name unknown persons when the site fell within a mining lease area. The bench also questioned the police explanation about mining from a pit inside the lease, saying the investigation had failed to examine why and how such a pit was created in the riverbed, who created it, and whether mining from any waterlogged pit in the riverbed was permissible at all.The tribunal said all persons involved in the alleged illegal mining, along with the driver and owner of the excavator, would be impleaded. It directed the police commissioner to file an additional report, through his own affidavit, on the progress of the investigation from Jan 2 onwards, including “details of the persons involved and the owner and driver of the JCB”.On the lease holder’s plea seeking removal of the stay on mining, the tribunal ordered the district task force to verify whether illegal mining was carried out by the project proponent within the lease area, or by anyone else in nearby areas of Ghaziabad district.It also took note of a video clip recorded by Mohsin, a resident of Badarpur village, and produced before the tribunal by applicant Bittu of Panchayara village. To verify the authenticity of the video and related statements, the tribunal ordered both men to appear before it for recording of their statements.
