An FIR registered for the offence under Section 21 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 is illegal if not initiated via a formal complaint in writing by an authorized officer, rendering the proceedings an abuse of process.

RAJESH BHARDWAJ, J.

***

1. Present petition has been filed praying for the quashing of FIR No.105, dated 01.07.2022, under Sections 21(1) & 4(1) of Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 (Section 379 IPC added later on), registered at Police Station Lalru, District SAS Nagar including the police report (challan) filed under Section 173 Cr.P.C. along with all consequent proceedings arising therefrom. Further prayer has been made for staying the further proceedings before the learned trial Court during the pendency of the present petition.

2. Succinctly, the facts of the case are that FIR in the present case was got registered on the statement of complainant, namely, Satpal Singh for stopping the illegal mining in village Bhagwasi and for taking action against the accused. It was alleged that mining was conducted in last few days and the same was got done by the present Sarpanch of village Shiv Kumar in Khasra No.750, which was the common land of village and the same was being done without any permission, which was the violation of the Mining rules. Thus, the request was made to take legal action against the accused. On the basis of the same, the FIR was registered. On registration of the FIR, the investigation commenced. On completion of the investigation, the challan was presented under Section 173 Cr.P.C. and the petitioner was prosecuted under Sections 21(1), 4(1) of Mines & Minerals Act, 1957 and Section 379 IPC. On framing of charges, the trial commenced. After registration of the FIR, the petitioner was granted the concession of anticipatory bail by this Hon’ble Court vide order dated 23.03.2023 passed in CRM-M-31155-2022. Hence, the petitioner is before this Court praying for quashing of the above said FIR along with the challan filed under Section 173 Cr.P.C.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has vehemently submitted that the petitioner has been falsely and frivolously implicated in the present case. He has submitted that the present FIR was registered against the petitioner at the instance of respondent No.2 and after completion of the investigation, the challan was presented before the learned trial Court on 26.10.2023. He has further submitted that on perusal of the FIR and police report, no offences under Section 21(1) of Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 (for short ‘the Act’) and Section 379 IPC are made out. He has submitted that the petitioner has no concern with the khasra No.750, in which the illegal mining had taken place and the same is under the illegal possession of some other persons of village Bhagwasi. He has further submitted that the petitioner is the Sarpanch of the village and he has performed his duties honestly. He has submitted that some persons of village are in illegal possession of the Panchayat land and the petitioner, being the Sarpanch, had initiated the legal action against them, which resulted in enmity and thus, in lieu of the same, the present FIR has been registered against the petitioner with intention to remove him from the post of Sarpanch in order to retain their illegal possession of the Panchayat land. He has submitted that the complainant-respondent No.2 is also in the illegal possession of the common land in Khasra No.326(5-10), 327(4-0) and 383(1-3) and the petitioner had initiated the process to remove the complainant’s encroachment on the abovesaid land and passed a resolution in this rega