(1.) Constitutional validity of the Kerala Protection of River Banks and Regulation of Removal of Sand Act, 2001 ('Sand Act' in short); the Rules framed under Section 26 of the Said Act and the relevant provisions of the Ordinance bearing No. 38/10 whereby the provisions regarding the confiscation and the further steps have been detailed and incorporated as per Sections 23 and 23A to 23D, is under challenge in most of these cases, particularly the Appeals and some of the writ petitions; while the other cases have been tagged on with the former group. The main contention is that, it is beyond power and competence of the State, as the entire topic with regard to the legislation for minor minerals has been taken over by the Union as enlisted under Entry No. 54 of List I; giving no room for the State to legislate on the same subject with reference to Entry No. 23 of List II of the 7th Schedule of the Constitut of India.
(2.) The challenge raised before this Court takes its origin from the orders passed by the concerned District Collector of various districts, pursuant to seizure of the vehicles, in which the river sand was being transported, contrary to the relevant provisions of the 'Sand Act', arriving at a finding in this regard and making it known under Rule 27(3) that the vehicle could be released on payment of the amount, equal to the value of the vehicle as fixed by the District Collector to the 'River Management Fund' (along with the fine in some cases); lest it should lead to further proceedings.
(3.) In the concerned Writ Petitions which form the subject matter of the relevant Writ Appeals, the challenge raised by the Petitioners, with regard to the power and competence of the District Collector to order confiscation of the vehicles and also as to the power and competence of the State to pass the 'Sand Act' and Rules thereunder, which are allegedly ultra vires to the 'MMDR Act' [The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957] and Rules made by the State invoking the power under Section 15 of the said Act (The Kerala Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1967) was repelled by the learned Single Judge, holding that the validity of the 'Sand Act'/Rules stands already upheld by the decision rendered by this Court as Subramanian v. State of Kerala, 2009 1 KerLT 77. The appeals have been preferred stating that the observations made by the learned Single Judge are not correct and that the decision rendered by the learned single Judge in , 2009 (1) KLT 77 (cited supra) requires re-consideration.
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