Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has decided to fix the tenure of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by Vinod Kumar Gupta (Retd. Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court) as a member to investigate and prevent the role of Railways in illegal transportation of minerals within the state, for six months. An approval has been given on the proposal to provide honorarium per month to the Chairman of the Commission, travel allowance and other facilities equivalent to the Chief Justice of the High Court and as well as one assistant, one commandant, one computer operator and vehicle facility for the seamless working of the office of the Commission.
Earlier, on December 14, 2022, Soren wrote a letter to the Railway Minister informing that the state government has decided to set up a high-level inquiry committee to investigate the involvement of railway officials in illegal mining and its transportation and all other pertinent points. Through the letter, the Chief Minister had urged the Railway Minister to direct the officials of the Railways to fully cooperate with this high-level inquiry committee.
The Jharkhand Minerals (Prevention of illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules, 2017 have been notified under Section-23 (C) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to prevent illegal transportation of minerals in the state. According to Rule-9(1) of the notified rules, the transportation of excavated minerals by rail is also to be done only through the transport challan obtained from the JIMMS portal. In this context, several instructions have been issued for transportation of minerals with valid e-challan through the Mines and Geology Department and various Deputy Commissioner/District level officials. Despite all these efforts, information is being received from various sources that large quantities of minerals are being transported/dispatched through Railways without valid e-Challans.
In this context, information/data has been sent by the Deputy Commissioner, Dumka regarding transportation of stone chips without permit/challan from railways. The involvement of railway officials is reflected in this irregularity.
Therefore, it has been decided to form a one-member SIT to investigate and suggest ways to prevent the role of railway officials in illegal transportation of various minerals within the state.
Therefore, making use of the powers conferred under Section-3 of The Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, it has been decided by the Government of Jharkhand to appoint Chief Justice (Retd.) Jharkhand High Court Mr. Vinod Kumar Gupta as the Chairman of the one-member SIT.
