Illegal sand mining: SC issues notices to Centre, CBI, 5 states

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 24) sought responses from the Centre, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and five states on a plea that sought prosecution of entities involved in illegal sand mining.

A bench headed by Justice SA Bobde issued notices to the Centre, the CBI, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh on a plea which claimed that rampant illegal mining in the states was causing environmental degradation.

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During the arguments, advocate Prashant Bhushan and Pranav Sachdeva, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that sand mining was going on in the states without the requisite environment clearance.

The plea also sought a direction from the apex court to the CBI to “register and investigate sand mining scams” mentioned in the petition.