The Madras High Court, on Monday, February 17, ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe illegal beach sand mining in the coastal areas of Kanyakumari, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts in Tamil Nadu. The court directed the CBI to investigate the role of government officials and politicians who could have facilitated private illegal mining to a tune of Rs 5,832 crores.
A division bench comprising Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jyothiraman issued the directive instructing the CBI Director to form a special investigation team to oversee the probe. The Tamil Nadu police have been given four weeks to submit all relevant case documents to the CBI. Additionally, the court mandated the CBI to scrutinize the finances of the private companies involved and report their findings to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Income Tax (IT) department, and Customs.
The ruling comes in response to over 25 petitions, including a suo-motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) initiated by the court in 2015. The PIL and subsequent petitions accused private firms—VV Minerals, Transworld Garnet, and Beach Sand Mining—of carrying out unauthorized sand mining along the state’s coastline.
The court also granted the Tamil Nadu government authority to proceed with recovering Rs 5,832 crore from illegal miners. The bench also ordered that all sand stocks—both processed and unprocessed—stored by private miners in their godowns be handed over to Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), a central government enterprise.
The court also ordered the district administrators to provide protection to whistleblowers who report illegal sand mining activities.