The Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a petitioner aggrieved by the award of sand mining contracts in the name of desilting without following the procedure prescribed by law.
The PIL has been filed by one Gagneshwar Walia.
The State of Punjab has submitted that the department through its Chief Engineer vide email dated 03.12.2022 had directed the Executive Engineers-cum-District Mining Officers to cancel all tenders floated all across Punjab in August and September 2022 for excavation of sand.
Subsequently all tenders as stated above stand cancelled by the respective Executive Engineers-cum-District Mining Officers in each district.
Vivek Kumar Tankha, Senior Advocate appearing for the respondents, submitted that all the impugned tenders have been cancelled.
Gurminder Singh, Senior Advocate for the petitioner, submitted that in view of the aforesaid statement of facts made by the State of Punjab, nothing further survives for adjudication in the present petition.
In view of the aforesaid statement of facts made by the State of Punjab and in terms thereof, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli disposed of the petition with liberty to the petitioner to file a fresh petition in case any cause of action survives or arises.