2 weeks ago
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The Supreme Court connected Thursday (May 14, 2026) summoned elder bureaucrats from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh implicit rampant amerciable soil mining successful the National Chambal Sanctuary and the States’ “persistent inaction” successful reining successful the mining mafia. Spread crossed Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary is India’s archetypal and lone tri-State riverine protected area.
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi observed that the Rajasthan authorities had displayed a “wholly casual, indifferent, and indolent approach” towards complying with the court’s earlier directions aimed astatine halting the “irreversible biology degradation” wrong the sanctuary.
“Such persistent inaction, contempt the sedate concerns recorded and directions issued by this Court, demonstrates a disturbing deficiency of seriousness and intent connected the portion of the State machinery successful addressing matters straight involving biology governance, nationalist safety, and the regularisation of instrumentality itself,” the Bench said.
It accordingly directed the Rajasthan Additional Chief Secretary (Home), on with the Principal Secretaries of the Mining and Geology, Finance, Forest, Environment and Climate Change, and Transport and Road Safety departments, to personally look earlier the tribunal on May 20 with idiosyncratic affidavits detailing compliance with its earlier directions.
“The Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department; the Principal Secretary, Department of Mining and Geology; the Principal Secretary, Finance Department; the Principal Secretary, Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department; and the Principal Secretary, Transport and Road Safety Department, State of Rajasthan, are directed to stay personally contiguous earlier this Court connected the adjacent day of hearing. The aforesaid officers shall besides record broad idiosyncratic compliance affidavits placing connected grounds the steps undertaken successful furtherance of the directions issued by this Court”, the Bench said.
The Bench further observed that portion the Madhya Pradesh authorities had commenced the process of strengthening surveillance of susceptible stretches and routes susceptible to amerciable soil mining wrong the sanctuary, compliance remained astatine a “nascent stage” and “substantial measures” were yet to beryllium operationalised connected the ground.
It accordingly directed the Principal Secretary of Madhya Pradesh’s Transport and Road Safety Department to stay personally contiguous earlier the tribunal connected May 20, on with a elaborate affidavit specifically addressing the concerns flagged by the Bench.
The directions were issued successful a suo motu proceeding initiated pursuing quality reports highlighting rampant amerciable soil mining successful the Chambal sanctuary dispersed crossed districts successful Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The tribunal had earlier directed the States to deploy specialised round-the-clock patrolling teams equipped with modern weaponry and connection systems successful susceptible areas.
On Thursday, the Bench underscored that the affidavits to beryllium filed by the elder bureaucrats indispensable specifically disclose the measures undertaken to place and curb the cognition of unregistered and unidentified vehicles allegedly engaged successful amerciable mining and proscription activities.
The tribunal further made it wide that it intended to enforce strict accountability by requiring the States to disclose the enactment initiated against erring officials and violators. It besides directed the authorities to bespeak a “definite timeline” wrong which the preventive measures earlier mandated by the tribunal would beryllium comprehensively implemented.
‘Erosion of the regularisation of law’
The Bench pointed retired that these directions assumed adjacent “greater significance” due to the fact that respective officials entrusted with enforcement duties had either mislaid their lives oregon sustained superior injuries portion attempting to curb amerciable soil mining. This, the tribunal said, disclosed “a profoundly disturbing authorities of affairs” and a “serious erosion of the regularisation of law”.
The judges besides pointed retired that successful a ample fig of transgression cases registered successful transportation with specified amerciable operations, investigating agencies appeared to beryllium confining prosecutions simply to conveyance drivers, portion nary meaningful effort was being made to place and prosecute the “figures/masterminds” down specified organised transgression networks.
“Such a lackadaisical signifier of probe cannot prima facie beryllium viewed arsenic a specified coincidence oregon inadvertent omission but raises superior concerns regarding deliberate inaction and imaginable connivance astatine assorted levels of the administrative and enforcement machinery”, the Bench said.
NHAI impleaded
Earlier, amicus curiae elder advocator Nikhil Goel had apprised the Bench that amerciable soil miners were excavating beneath the instauration pillars of a span implicit the Chambal stream connecting Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Describing the revelations arsenic “shocking”, the tribunal had observed that they pointed to a “complete failure” of the State machinery.
In presumption of the concerns surrounding the structural integrity of the bridge, the tribunal impleaded the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) successful the proceedings and sought its effect connected the safeguards projected to support the structure.
“The NHAI shall record a elaborate affidavit connected oregon earlier the adjacent day of proceeding specifically indicating the measures undertaken oregon projected to beryllium undertaken for safeguarding the structural integrity and information of the afore-mentioned span successful airy of the continuing amerciable mining activities successful its vicinity”, the Bench said.
The tribunal besides directed the NHAI to analyse the feasibility of installing due CCTV and surveillance infrastructure connected and astir the span to alteration real-time monitoring of mining operations and vehicular movement.
The sanctuary serves arsenic a important situation and breeding crushed for the critically endangered gharial, oregon fish-eating crocodile. It besides hosts affluent biodiversity, including marsh crocodile muggers, Gangetic stream dolphins, smooth-coated otters, Indian skimmers, black-bellied terns, sarus cranes, black-necked storks, and respective taxon of freshwater turtles, including the endangered red-crowned extortion turtle.
The apical tribunal had antecedently reminded the 3 States, wrong whose tri-junction the sanctuary is located, that each enactment resulting successful the demolition of wildlife situation wrong a protected country would pull penal consequences nether aggregate biology statutes, including the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
