P.K. Balasubramanyan, J.

This Original Petition is filed by three residents of Pattazhi Vadakkekara Panchayat in Quilon District. They have properties on the northern bank of Kallada river. They have filed this Original Petition praying for the issue of a writ of mandamus directing the State of Kerala, the District Collector, Quilon and the Tahsildar, Pathanapuram to take appropriate action to see that the removal of sand from Kallada river carried on at the Konnaman Kadavu is stopped forthwith, for the issue of a direction to the said respondents to see to it that there is no further removal of sand from the river bed at Konnaman Kadavu at least until such a time an expert body constituting of the representatives of the Pollution Control Board and Central Water Authority certify that sand could be removed and for such other appropriate directions. The petitioners essentially complain that there is over exploitation of the river by auctioning of the right to collect and remove sand by contractors who have no commitment to the environment or to the preservation of Ecology and who are only concerned with self-aggrandizement. The Original Petition is resisted by the contrac