Mukurala Narsimha Goud v. 1. The State of Telangana

Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High court may be pleased to issue a writ, order or Direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus,. declaring the seizure of the 3rd respondent police in seizing the petitioner vehicles i.e., Tractor bearing No. TS-31-T-1015 and Trailer No. TS- 31-T-2076 and kept into the police station on the ground of illegal transportation of the sand without looking into the valid permission of transporting the sand by the petitioner vide Booking lD No. M|VB2O2513B421 allotted date 14.05.2025, order Tracking lD M1V0202556550'17, illegally and highhandedly seized the vehicles of the petitioner and kept the said vehicle into the custody of the 3rd respondent police station is highly illegal, arbitrary and against the principles of natural justice and also violative of Articles 14, 19,21 and 300-4 of constitution of lndia and consequently directed the respondents particularly 3'd respondent police to release and handover the seized vehicles to the petition€rr in the interest of jr-rstic,: lA NO: 'l OF 2025 immediately Petition under S ection 1 51 cpc praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in s"rpport of the petition, the High -court mav be pleased to Direct the respontlents pa(icularly 3rd respondent police to release the petitioner vehicles i.e., Trar;tor rearing No. TS-31-T-1015 and rrailer No. l-s-31-T-2076 immediately, pending clisposal of the above main writ petition : i I i Counsel for the Pr:titioner: SRl. G. CHANDRASEKHAR Counsel for the R,-.spondent Nos. 1to3: AGp FOR HOME Counsel for the Respondent No.4: AGp FOR MINES AND GEOLOGY The Court made the following: ORDER HOItl'Eil..D SX JT'SIrcE J. SM{IVA'S RAO UIRXT PEIIIPN No.15245 of2[]25 ORDER This Writ Petition is filed seeking the following relief:- "to issue a Wit Order or Drection more particuLarly one in the nafire of Wit of Mandomus declaing the seiztre of tLrc 3rd respondent police in seizing the petitioner uehicles i-e-, Tractor beaing NI.TS-31-T- 1015 and Trailer No.TS-31-T-2O76 qnd kept into the police station on the ground of illegal transporiation of the sand uithout looking into th.e ualid permission of tran-sporting the so:nd bg the petitioner vide Bookitlg ID No.MN82O25138421 ctllotted date 14.05.2025 Order Tracking 1D.MN02O255655017, itlegallg and highhandedlg seized the uehicles of the petitioner and kept tle said uehicle into tle custodg of the 3rd respondent police station is highlg illegal' arbitrary and agaitst the principles oJ natural justice and also uiolatiue of Articles 14, 19, 21 and 300 A of Constitution of lndia and conseqlentlg directed the respondents particularlq 3rd respondent police to release qnd handouer the seized uehtcles to the petitioner immediatelg in th.e. interest ofjustice and to pzss...'

2. Heard Sri G. Chandrasekhar, learned counsel for the petitioner, Iearned Assistant Government Pleader for Home appearing for respondent Nos.1 to 3 and learned Assistant Government Pleader for Mines and Geologr appearing for respondent No.4. With their consent, writ petition is disposed of at the admission stage itself. \./\ ' *" ,rror'rt$i lrarne d cc)rlnsel for the petitioner submits that the ,:letitioner is 3 the absolute ov.ner and possessor of the vehicle 'Iractor 'rearing No. TS-3i-T-1015 and Trailer bearing No.TS-31-T-2076. Tb'e said vehicle was seized by th.e 3.4 respondent in connection q.ith Crirr-re No.69 of 2025 on the ground that petitioner is transporting sand illegally. Crime No.69 of 2025 was registered on 14.05.2025 for the offences under Section 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (:lNS), 2023 Section 2l (L) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, i957 (VIMI)R Act) and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Proprerty Act, 1984 (PDPPA). The said vehicle is under the custody of li,d rr spondent.

4. Learned counsel further submits that the petitioner is, ready and willing to cooperate with the investigation and in similar circumstanr:es, this Court disposed of W.P.No.8163 o1- 2025 on

18.O3.2025 with certain conditions. Therefore, the pt,titioner is ; entitled for .he r ery same order.

5. Learne I A:;sistant Government Pleader for Home and learned Assistant (iove rr-rment Pleader for Mines and Geolog,. has not disputed the sarne

6. In the light of the said submission, it is approprizlte to extract Rule 12 of r-he 'l'elangana State Sand Mining Rules, 2015 (for short, 'the Rules'J. r,r hfti1s as under: -/ J JSR,J wP 15245 2025 "12. For the Rule-13, under the heading "Offences', the following shall be substituted 'Any vehicle found transporting sand without valid transit pass issued by the Asst. Director of Mines & Geolo$/ concerned to Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation OR transit form issued to the pattadar for de-casting sand from patta iand will be deemed illegal and in contravention of these rules" The deflnition of transit form and transit pass is as described below: I I I l S No 1 2 Purpose Type Documentar y Evidence Transit form Source to Destination rn respect of de-casting in ttaland Transit pass Stockyard to Destination in respect of TSMDC Rule Form-S3 (Rule 7(4) of TSSMR,2O15 Form-E (Rute 6 of APMDR 2000 (1) Any vehicle transporting sand along with transit pass issued by the Asst, Director of Mines & Geolory concerned to Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation OR transit form issued to the pattadar' if found, carrying sand in excess of the quantity specifred in the transit pass / transit form OR in excess of quantity p€rmitted by the Transporl Dept., such excess quantity shatl be imPosed a fine 0 Rs.2000/ Per MT (2) Any vehicle/machinery, if found, involved in illegal extraction and transportation of sand in contravention of these rules shall be levied penalry for such each vehicle / machinery as detailed below: Vehicle Tractor I,orry upto IO tons ca I-orry above 10 tons ca machin Fist time In Rs. 5 000 25,OOo I - Second time In Rs- I5 000 s0,oo0/- 50,0OO/- 50,000 1,00,000/ - 1,00 000 o *"-,rr.il&i (3) The vehi:le / machinery, found involved more than two tim€s, such vehicle/mact inery along with sand shall be seized/ conhscated by the followin 3 offtr:ers in the State authorized under these r]-Lles: a) District Collector (Concerned) b) Joint Collector (Concerned) c) Superinter c-ent of Police (Concemed) d) Additionat Superintendent of Police/OSD (Concerned) e) Sub-Oollector/ Revenue Divisional Officer (concerned). f) Tahsildar (xrncerned) Mandal. g) Sub-I)ivisr,)ral Police Officer (concerned). h) Station House Officer (concerned). i) District/ Di/isional Panchayat Officer j) Deputy Dir3(--tor of Mines and Geologr (Concerned) . k) Asst. Direct,rr of Mines & Geotogr (concerned). l) Any olher cfficer nominated by the Dist, Collector (coucerned)." In the tight of the said discussion, this writ petition is disposed of 7. directing the ltetitioner to approach 3'd respondent r:y way of submitting a representation along with'all original do(tuments in respect of r-he ,)wnership of the subject vehicle and il:lform the 3rd respondent that petitioner is ready to comply with Rukr 12 of the Rules. On receilt of the said representation, the 3'a respondent shall consider the same and dispose of in terms of Rule 12 o{ the Rules, within a period ,rl (02) weeks thereafter.

8. With the zLforesaid direction, this u.rit petitron is d isposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. \ \ .-.-, Misceilaneous petitions pending, if any, shall stand closed' 5 JSR,J wP 't5245 2025 //TRUE COPY// SD/.P. GOWRI SHANKAR DEPUTY REGIST SECTION OFFICER To,

1. The Principle Secretary, Home Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad 2. The Superintendent of Police, Nagarkurnool District at Nagarkurnool 3. The Station House Officer, Uppunuthala Police Station, Uppunuthala Nagarkurnool District District

4. The Assistanl Director of Mines and Geology, Nagarkurnool, Nagarkurnool

5. One CC to SRl. G. CHANDRASEKHAR, Advocate [OPUC] 6. Two CCs to GP FOR IUINES AND GEOLOGY, High Court for the State of Telangana, at Hyderabad [OUT]

7. lwo CCs to GP FOR HOME,High Court for the State of Telangana, at Hyderabad [OUT] B. Two CD Copies BM BS HIGH COURT DATED:21 10512025 VACATION COURT -: =::--:=\1 -r} ? T iltA1 o J c { ORDER WP.No.15245 of 2025 DISPOSING OF THE WRIT PETITION WITHOUT COSTS 1 fl\ 41' 4nt, / tt [c,