Illegal Sand Mining: Supreme Court Seeks Affidavit Of Maharashtra, AP, TN; Warns Cost Will Be Imposed On Default

In a public interest litigation pertaining to illegal sand mining at rivers and beaches, the Supreme Court today called for counter-affidavits from certain states and warned that costs of Rs.20,000 each would be imposed on them if the affidavits are not filed within stipulated time.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar passed the order in respect of states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The counter-affidavits have to be filed by these states within a period of 6 weeks.

"In case counter-affidavit is not filed within period of 6 weeks from today, there shall be a cost of Rs.20,000 each to be paid to the state legal services authorities of the respective states", Justice Khanna said, while dictating the order.

The matter has been listed in the week commencing 25 November, 2024.

During the hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan (appearing for the petitioner) was heard contending that several months had passed since the affidavits were called from 5 states (ie Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh). Yet, affidavits of only Punjab and Madhya Pradesh were on record. "One state where there is clearly huge illegal sand mining going on, which is having serious environmental impact there, is Tamil Nadu...", he added.

The counsel further urged that imposition of costs (as directed) would not make any difference. Disagreeing on the aspect, Justice Khanna said, "I'm not saying that it is equivalent to what wrong activity is going on, it will push them to file affidavits...I am not saying this is going to be equivalent or in any way commensurate with the damage caused...no way".

Briefly put, the present petition has been filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, seeking inter-alia:

(i) direction to the respondents to cease all river and beach sand mining activities owing to the non-implementation of 'Sustainable sand mining management guidelines, 2016' & 'Office memorandum dated 24.12.2013';

(ii) direction to the Ministry of Environment and Forest to constitute a committee for monitoring all such implementations; and

(iii) direction to the CBI to investigate and register cases against illegal mining.

Allegations pertaining to illegal sand mining have been levelled against 5 states, which are as follows:

(i) Tamil Nadu: Based on media articles, the petitioner states that the report of a special investigation team headed by a senior IAS officer revealed illegal mining of 1 crore metric tonne of beach sand from Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari district by 52 leases in the State.

(ii) Andhra Pradesh: The petitioner states that indiscriminate and Illegal sand mining is rampant in all districts of Andhra Pradesh, particularly, along river Krishna in Guntur district. 

(iii) Maharashtra: Based on news articles, the petitioner states that Maharashtra recorded 1,39,706 illegal mining cases between 2013 and 2017, the highest number in the country. However, the state had one of the lowest numbers of prosecutions in the cases. Furthermore, it filed 712 FIRs and 1 court case, while seizing around 1,39,000 vehicles used in illegal mining operations and collecting Rs 267 crores as fines from offender. 

(iv) Madhya Pradesh: Based on media reports, the petitioner states that a total of 42,152 cases of illegal mining for major and minor minerals were registered in the state from 2009 to 2015. 

(v) Punjab: Relying on documents prepared by Punjab's mining wing, the petitioner states that 5,549 criminal cases of illegal mining have been reported between 2013-17. This translates into roughly 92 FIRs every month across Sutlej, Beas and Ravi river basin. The Punjab police is yet to submit challans in 2,277 cases in various courts. The documents also reveal that 8.904 vehicles were seized while ferrying illegally mined sand. 

"Unscientific mining has caused degradation of land, accompanied by subsidence and consequential mine fires and disturbance of the water table leading to topographic disorder, severe ecological imbalance and damage to land use patterns in and around mining regions", the petitioner claims.

Case Title: M ALAGARSAMY Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 1342/2018