The Supreme Court’s suo motu action on illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary ordered state authorities to immediately halt all unlicensed extraction activities. The sanctuary spans critical habitat along the Chambal River where endangered gharials, dolphins, and migratory birds depend on undisturbed riverbed ecology.
Illegal mining has degraded banks, altered water flows, and destroyed nesting sites despite prior judicial warnings in environmental matters. The court directed forest departments, district magistrates, and mining control boards to coordinate enforcement raids and seize equipment used in unauthorized operations.
Conservationists petitioned for years citing satellite imagery showing excavators operating within protected zones under cover of darkness. Revenue losses to state exchequers from unregulated sand trade parallel ecological damage that takes decades to reverse once sediment structures collapse.
State governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh share jurisdiction over sanctuary segments and must submit compliance affidavits documenting closures and prosecutions initiated against violators. The bench indicated continued monitoring until satellite and ground verification confirm sustained compliance.
Environmental lawyers said suo motu jurisdiction allows the apex court to bypass procedural delays when ongoing harm threatens irreplaceable biodiversity. Similar interventions previously produced central empowered committees overseeing mining moratoriums in other river systems facing comparable crises.
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Sources:
https://www.sci.gov.in/