Rakesh Aneja And Another vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others

Pankaj Purohit, J

By means of the present writ petition, the petitioner has sought indulgence of this Court to issue a writ of mandamus directing the authority concerned to withhold the recovery proceedings by keeping in abeyance the recovery against the petitioners in pursuance to recovery certificate dated 18.04.2023 issued by respondent no.4 (annexure no.8) till disposal of the Mining Appeal No.16/2022-23, “Rakesh Aneja and another Vs. State”, pending in the court of learned Commissioner, Garhwal Mandal, Pauri Camp, Dehradun.

It is case of the petitioner that the petitioner was imposed a penalty of ₹3,61,700/- vide order dated 04.03.2023 passed by the Additional District Magistrate, Revenue and Finance, Haridwar for violating the Uttarakhand Minerals (Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage Removal) Rules, 2020 (hereinafter referred to as “Rules of 2020”).

The petitioner preferred an Appeal under Rule 14 of the Rules of 2020 before the Commissioner, Garhwal Division on 29.03.2023, which was registered as Mining Appeal No.16/2022-23, “Rakesh Aneja and another Vs. State”.

Since the stay application of the petitioner was pending disposal, no stay was granted in favour of the petitioner, the recovery citation was issued by respondent no.4 on 18.04.2023 against the petitioner. Now he is under threat of recovery under the aforesaid citation.

It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that since appeal of the petitioner is pending and an application for stay of the order passed by Additional District Magistrate, Finance and Revenue is also pending disposal, therefore, the recovery citation should not have been issued.

He further made an innocuous prayer for a direction to the Appellate Authority i.e., Commissioner, Pauri-Garhwal to decide the appeal or the stay application of the petitioner within a stipulated time so that the petitioner would be relieved from unnecessary hassles of recovery.

To this proposition there is no opposition from the side of the State.

Accordingly, writ petition is disposed-off. The respondent-Commissioner, Pauri-Garhwal is directed to decide the appeal or the Interim Relief Application/Stay Application of the petitioner filed in the Mining Appeal No.16/2022-23, “Rakesh Aneja and another Vs. State”, within a period of one month from the date of production of certified copy of this order.

Till the appeal or stay application of the petitioner is decided no recovery shall be made from the petitioner pursuant to the Recovery Certificate dated 18.04.2023.