The Supreme Court of India has halted all mining activities within a one-kilometre radius of the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. This decision was announced on Wednesday by a bench led by Justice B.R. Gavai, which directed the Rajasthan government to formulate a closure plan and take necessary compliance steps.
The matter is scheduled for further hearing in July. The apex court’s decision came in response to an application filed under the ongoing TN Godavarman case, which has been pending before the forest bench since 1995. The application sought to stop mining activities within a one-kilometre radius of the Sariska Tiger Reserve, located in the Alwar district. The court was informed that 110 mines were operating within this restricted area, in violation of its previous order dated April 26, 2023, which prohibited mining within one kilometre of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The Rajasthan government contended that the April 2023 prohibition was applicable to eco-sensitive zones around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries but did not extend to tiger reserves.
However, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, representing Rajasthan, acknowledged that the Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) serves as a buffer zone for the protection of the Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary. Bhati also noted that of the 110 mines, only 60 were operating within the one-kilometre radius. The bench firmly rejected the state’s stance, deeming it ‘contrary’ to law. It noted with concern that some mines were located as close as 50, 400, and 600 metres from the reserve’s boundary. The court warned the Rajasthan government that if mining activities continued, the restriction radius could be extended to 10 kilometres, as per an earlier order from June 2022.
Advocate K. Parameshwar, assisting the court as amicus curiae, emphasised that tiger habitats cannot be treated as buffer zones. He reminded the court that Sariska was declared a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1978. In 2007, the Rajasthan government notified 881.11 square kilometres as CTH, and in 2012, 332 square kilometres were designated as a buffer zone. Of the total CTH, 53.5 square kilometres are used for tourism. Permitting mining near this zone, Parameshwar argued, would be detrimental to the ecosystem. ASG Bhati informed the court that no mining was occurring within the core tiger reserve (CTR) and that the existing operations were small-scale mines around the area. However, the court underscored the critical need to cease all mining activities within the specified radius to protect the habitat.
The April 2023 judgment, which included Justice Gavai, modified an earlier order from June 3, 2022, directing that mining within national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and within a one-kilometre radius from their boundaries, was impermissible. This modification came after the Centre and some states requested changes to the June 2022 decision, which had initially prohibited mining and other specified non-forest activities within 10 kilometres of protected areas. The Supreme Court’s directive reflects a robust stance on environmental conservation, underscoring the need for stringent measures to protect critical wildlife habitats from the detrimental impacts of mining activities.
“We hold that any mining activity within 1 kilometre from a critical tiger habitat (CTH) will be violation of our April 26, 2023 order,” the bench also comprising justices SVN Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta said. “We direct Rajasthan to forthwith prohibit mining activities from one kilometre of CTH (tiger reserve) at Sariska.” “Section 38XA of Wildlife Protection Act as interpreted by this court (in the recent judgment prohibiting tiger safari in Jim Corbett Park in Uttarakhand) will show that tiger reserve stands on a higher pedestal than wildlife sanctuaries and national parks,” the bench remarked. “The interpretation by state is without reason. Our order of April 26, 2023 that prohibited mining activities within 1 km of protected area would not just mean sanctuaries and national parks, but CTH as well.”
