The Supreme Court has upheld the continuation of the ban on extracting beach mineral sand and river sand in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts. The court dismissed an appeal filed by a private company challenging an earlier order of the Madras High Court.
Tamil Nadu had imposed a ban on mining mineral sand along coastal areas in August 2013. Despite the prohibition, authorities recorded continued illegal activities such as unauthorised extraction, stockpiling and transportation of minerals.
In 2025, the Madras High Court, while dealing with allegations of large-scale mineral sand theft in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari, ordered that the matter be transferred to the CBI for investigation. The High Court also directed recovery of an estimated loss of Rs 5,832 crore from private firms and ordered seizure of their stocks.
Private companies moved the Supreme Court against these directions. A bench comprising Justices R. Mahadevan and Manmohan said the earlier lease-related restraint would continue, noting that the High Court’s division bench had examined the facts in detail and finding no grounds to interfere under Article 136.
The Supreme Court also noted that members of the public can promptly report complaints related to illegal mining and sand theft in their areas to the Department of Mining, the Geology Department, or the district police.
