In March this year, the top court took suo motu cognisance of reports on illegal mining in Chambal, while impleading the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, as well as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as parties.

Subsequently, the states filed compliance affidavits with the SC. Rajasthan has filed five separate compliance affidavits through the departments of Home, Finance, Forest, Transport and Road Safety, and Mines and Geology. In the affidavits, Rajasthan has said that it has approved over Rs 65 crore for IT-enabled monitoring systems, and is in the process of installing 118 CCTVs, hiring additional vehicles, etc.

Noting that certain significant measures have been initiated by Rajasthan, the Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta Tuesday said, “This court cannot overlook the fact that the affidavits filed by the State of Rajasthan themselves indicate substantially prolonged timelines for implementation of several critical measures… proposed to be completed over a period extending between 18 to 36 months. Such timelines do not comport with the emergent nature of the situation presently prevailing in the affected regions.”

The Bench said that it “cannot ignore the disturbing fact that a substantial number of the actions now projected before this court appear to have been initiated only after stringent directions were issued requiring personal presence of senior officers of the State of Rajasthan before this Court.”

“The chronology emerging from the record prima facie indicates that several crucial decisions relating to surveillance infrastructure, constitution of enforcement mechanisms, operational coordination, seizure protocols and inter-departmental action plans were undertaken only after judicial intervention assumed a more coercive and supervisory character. Such a state of affairs reveals an apathetic administrative tendency which responds to grave environmental and governance issues only upon direct judicial scrutiny and compulsion, rather than through timely institutional initiative and responsible governance,” the court said.

Just 12 days ago, the apex court had noted: “In stark contrast to the steps reportedly undertaken by the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, we are compelled to express our serious displeasure at the manner in which the state of Rajasthan has conducted itself in the present proceedings.”

On May 12, it had said that despite pertinent directions issued by the court, the state had failed to file any compliance affidavit. “The conduct of the state reflects a wholly casual, indifferent, and indolent approach towards the grave issues prevailing in this matter, that is, rampant illegal mining, irreversible environmental degradation, and destruction of protected wildlife habitats within the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary.”

Last month, the SC stayed a Rajasthan government notification seeking de-notification of a portion of land, about 732 hectares, forming part of the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, considering the “serious environmental implications” arising from the notification.

Among other measures, the SC on Tuesday asked Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to augment their field-level enforcement officials in the respective Forest Departments, including filling up vacant posts, within a year.

As per the state’s data, 730 FIRs have been lodged in Dholpur since 2023 for illegal mining, with 725 arrests and 817 vehicles seized. Similarly, in Karauli, 52 FIRs have been lodged, 99 persons have been arrested, and 77 vehicles have been seized. For Kota, the figures are 33 FIRs, 51 arrests and 36 vehicles being seized. And in Bundi, the state’s data shows 13 FIRs, 19 arrests, and 14 vehicles seized.