VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Oct 18: The division bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) of Katihar DM Udayan Mishra where he had challenged the contempt proceedings initiated against him by the Jharkhand High Court.
Justice MR Shah and Justice MM Sundresh dismissed the SLP stating that it cannot intervene in this matter. Notably, as per the order of the Jharkhand High Court Katihar DM along DC of Sahibganj Ramniwas Yadav had to physically appear before the Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday.
They have been charged for non-compliance of the court order where they were asked to ensure that petitioner Prakash Chandra Yadav operates his cargo ship on river Ganga without any hassle.
While on Tuesday DC of Sahibganj appeared before the division bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, DM of Katihar sought exemption from personal appearance. But Vimal Kirti Singh who appeared for the petitioner objected to the exemption and said that Katihar district magistrate was trying to avoid the court.
October last year, the division bench had passed an order allowing Prakash Chandra Yadav to operate his cargo ship on river Ganga. The petitioner further alleged that despite the court order he was not allowed to operate on a different alibi. The petitioner alleged the district administration of working under influence of Pankaj Mishra, who is Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren’s representative.
Prakash Chandra Yadav is the proprietor of the Jai Bagrang Walee Stone Works. He had filed a petition as the operation of his cargo ship was not allowed in river Ganga between Samda Ghat (Sahibganj, Jharkhand) and Manihari Ghat (Katihar, Bihar) by the concerned district administrations despite he had Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) operation permission from Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).
IWAI stated that the operation of vessels by the petitioner would be carried out as per the provisions of Inland Waterways Authority of India Act, 1985, National Waterways Act, 2016, the Inland Vessels Act, 1917 as also the applicable laws of the Government of India. Besides, the Commissioner of Santhal Pargana Division had also given the direction that the petitioner could ferry any number of its vessels/Ro-Ro vessels/barges owned by it or under a valid agreement.
The petitioner said that despite such categorical and unambiguous order, the district administration of Sahibganj and Katihar did not allow the petitioner to operate the cargo ship. And when the Jharkhand High Court passed an order in his favour both district administrations created hurdles hence he is unable to operate and his business is affected.
This dispute is intrinsically woven into an illegal stone mining scam in Jharkhand where the Enforcement Directorate charged Pankaj Mishra, powerbroker Prem Prakash and Mishra’s associate Bacchu Yadav with money laundering through illegal stone mining and transportation of stone chips and boulders.
Ankush Rajhans who is the son of Prakash Chandra Yadav and also proprietor of Enterprises recorded his statement before the ED on June 7th this year. He said that they were given permission by IWAI for operating the inland vessels in Sahibganj, but Pankaj Mishra, Dahu Yadav, Bachhu Yadav and others did not allow him to operate the same and hindered and stopped the same forcefully.
