Two Writ Petitions Pending With Madras High Court VV Minerals
VV Minerals was a founded by S Vaikundarajan in the late 1980s. It has been operating for almost two decades under his leadership.
Recently, the company stated that there is a lack of technology to separate thorium from monazite. Monazite is automatically generated during the mineral separation process. This was later confirmed by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). VV Minerals is known for extracting and exporting garnet and ilmenite to over 20 countries. It has won several national awards for its contribution to the export business. Former principal scientist at Central Marine Fisheries Research institute in Kochi expressed his concerns that the company does not follow the procedure recommended by AERB. These claims were rubbished by VV Mineral Vaikundarajan who stated that the company is operating well within the legal boundaries. He further stated, “All these grouses are a set up by IREL officials. We have established a mineral separation plant and approached the AERB for a license, which is awaited.” District collector of Kanyakumari, Rajendra Ratnoo added to the allegations that VV Minerals has been mining without proper regulatory clearance. This allegation was thwarted by VV Minerals Vaikundarajan who said that IREL was the one illegally mining in VV Mineral’s land and indulged in questionable practices. “No authority is ready to take action based on our complaint. Hence we approached the High Court,” he added.
Since the allegations have surfaced, the sand mining activities have been temporarily suspended. The company has filed two writ petitions that are pending with the Madras High Court.