Maharashtra Orders On-the-Spot Permit Suspension and Seizure in Crackdown on Illegal Sand Transport

Overview

• The Revenue Department’s Nov. 26 circular enforces a three-tier penalty: 30-day suspension with impounding for a first offence, 60-day suspension for a second, and permanent permit cancellation with seizure after a third.
• The rules, framed under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, empower the State and Regional Transport Authorities to impose permit sanctions at the point of detection.
• Coverage extends to vehicles and machinery commonly used in illegal extraction, including JCBs, excavators, dumpers, trucks, tractors with trolleys, trawlers, barges, motorised boats, compressors and mechanised loaders.
• Revenue and Home (police) departments will act jointly and independently so that seizures draw fines from both authorities and result in criminal cases.
• Officials say the push targets large revenue losses, environmental damage and threats to enforcement personnel, with the minister calling it a 'surgical strike' on illegal mining.