The Madras High Court has reserved its verdict on a series of long-standing cases concerning illegal beach sand mining in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, and Kanniyakumari districts. A division bench comprising Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jothiraman concluded oral arguments on January 23, 2025, after extensive hearings that began in December 2024.
The court’s involvement dates back to 2015 when it initiated suo motu public interest litigation in response to widespread allegations of unauthorized extraction of minerals such as garnet, ilmenite, rutile, zircon, sillimanite, and monazite from the state’s coastal regions. Investigations revealed that approximately 1.5 crore tonnes of sand were mined illegally, resulting in an estimated loss of ₹5,832 crore to the state exchequer.
In response to these findings, the Tamil Nadu government established two committees, led by IAS officers Gagandeep Singh Bedi and Satyabrata Sahoo, to investigate the extent of illegal mining activities. Based on their reports, the state issued recovery notices totaling ₹5,035 crore to the implicated mining companies. Senior advocate Arvind Datar, representing the state, emphasized the government’s commitment to enforcing these recovery orders during the court proceedings.
The court-appointed amicus curiae, V. Suresh, provided an independent assessment supporting the state’s findings. The implicated companies, notably V.V. Minerals, have contested the allegations, denying any involvement in illegal mining and challenging the recovery notices. The court’s forthcoming judgment is anticipated to have significant implications for the mining industry and environmental governance in Tamil Nadu.
