Patna: The high court on Monday came down heavily on K.K. Pathak, asking principal secretary of mines and geology department why shouldn't contempt of court be initiated against him.

Pathak, who wasn't in court, came under fire because of the sand sale policy.

Hearing a petition filed by Puspa Singh and others, Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay issued the notice to Pathak. The bench said: "Why shouldn't contempt proceeding be initiated against you for violating the court's order?"

Nine and more petitions have been filed in the court, challenging the government's new sand policy that came into effect from December 1.

On November 28, the bench had stayed the Bihar Minor Mineral Rules 2017 till further order, saying that it had been formulated without evaluating the problems the rules might create for the general masses.

But despite the high court's order, the government enforced the new rules from December 1 and continued passing necessary orders in support of the new policy, violating the court's directive.

Sanjeev Kumar, the lawyer appearing on behalf of Puspa Singh, said the bench observed how could a government officer violate the court's order like this.

The bench then fixed December 18 as the date for Pathak, a 1990 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer who as principal secretary, excise and prohibition, drove the dry law campaign in Bihar, to reply to the court's notice.

It further ordered that the older policy on sand and mineral mining be continued, staying all orders issued by the department concerned after November 28.

The petitioners have challenged Bihar Minor Mineral Rules 2017 on the ground that provisions of rules 35, 37 and 63(2) are ultra vires to the law, were brought in a hurry and comprise bottlenecks. The state has arrogated itself the right to fix prices for the sale of sand and minor minerals, the petitioners had told the court.