JUDGMENT

The petitioner, the owner of Tipper Lorry bearing registration No.KL-65-R-8490 is aggrieved by the seizure of that vehicle by the 2^nd respondent alleging illegal transportation of ordinary earth on 6/10/2025 at 5.30 p.m. The main, if not the solitary point, raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the vehicle was empty at the time of its seizure, and that even if an intention to transport can be culled out, the same will not attract the penal provision under Section 21 (4) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act , 1957, as categorically held by a Division Bench of this Court in theDistrict Collector, Palakkad v. Unais (W.A.No.609/2023)

2. On the aspect as to whether the vehicle was empty at the time of seizure, there is no serious quarrel. All that the learned Government Pleader submits is that there were some soil particles found in the vehicle. The mere presence of soil particles cannot take away the status of an empty vehicle to that of a loaded vehicle.

In the circumstances, the petitioner is entitled to the benefit of the dictum laid down in Unais (supra). This Court therefore directs the 2^nd respondent to release the petitioner’s Tip