New Delhi, The Supreme Court has slammed the Rajasthan government over the alleged illegal mining along the Jojari-Bandi-Luni river ecosystem in the state, and said it may order a CBI investigation into the matter.
the apex court flagged the issues of alleged illegal mining, regularisation of mining leases and industries operating without the requisite no-objection certificate While hearing the matter on Monday. the top court asked the Rajasthan government to submit a proposal for restoring the river system and on the other issues flagged by it While posting the matter for further hearing on November 27. The observation came from a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta which was hearing a suo motu case concerning contamination in the Jojari river. The top court had also flagged the issue of pollution in the Bandi and Luni rivers.
“If we start probing into this, it may require a CBI investigation,” the bench observed. In August, the top court had directed the state government to constitute an “Integrated Coordination Group” headed by the chief secretary to deal with the issue of contamination in the Jojari, Bandi and Luni rivers.
The apex court in November last year constituted a high-level ecosystem oversight committee to detect the fundamental maladies in the system, to supervise the remedial measures required to arrest further pollution and to give long-term suggestions for reversal of the damage already caused.
