HC halts sand mining tender over incomplete survey rep

The Chhattisgarh High Court has quashed a sand mining tender issued for Hathnewra village in Janjgir-Champa district, holding that no mining activity or auction process can proceed without a validly approved District Survey Report (DSR), and that merely uploading a draft DSR online does not meet mandatory legal requirements.

A Division Bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal allowed a writ petition filed by Gram Panchayat Hathnewra and set aside the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) dated March 30, 2026, which proposed grant of a quarry lease for ordinary sand through electronic reverse auction.

The court held that a draft DSR must first be placed in the public domain for objections and suggestions, and only after that process can it be finalized and approved by the competent authority or the District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA). In the absence of such approval, the Bench ruled, “no mining activity or auction process can legally proceed.”

The Gram Panchayat, through its Sarpanch Thakur Dushyant Singh Chandel, challenged the tender on the ground that the auction was initiated without a legally valid DSR, a prerequisite under the Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining, 2020, and binding judicial precedents on environmental clearance and regulation of mining.

Senior counsel Sharmila Singhai, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the last valid DSR for Janjgir-Champa was prepared in 2019 and had exhausted its five-year validity. She contended that the State’s reliance on a 2025 DSR was misplaced because it was only a draft and had not been finalized and approved after inviting and considering public objections, as required by the Supreme Court in State of Uttar Pradesh vs. Gaurav Kumar.

The State, represented by Additional Advocate General Praveen Das, defended the tender and submitted that the DSR had been prepared with technical assistance from IIT Rourkela and uploaded in the public domain on November 27, 2025. The State also argued that the Gram Panchayat had no authority to obstruct lawful mining and suggested illegal sand mining interests could be behind the litigation.

After examining the record, the High Court held that the State’s material did not satisfactorily establish that the DSR had been finally approved by the District Collector or competent authority after completion of the procedure mandated under the 2020 guidelines and Supreme Court directions. “The material placed before this Court does not satisfactorily establish that the said DSR was finally approved by the District Collector/Chairperson of the competent authority after following the procedure contemplated under the applicable guidelines,” the Bench observed.

The court noted that the Sand Mining Guidelines, 2020 require preparation and approval of a valid DSR before any auction, e-auction, grant of mining lease, or issuance of a Letter of Intent. Relying on Gaurav Kumar, the Bench reiterated that the DSR is a document of “seminal importance” forming the basis for environmental appraisal, environmental clearance, and regulation of mining activity, and also referred to Deepak Kumar vs. State of Haryana and State of Bihar vs. Pawan Kumar.

While quashing the NIT, the court clarified that the State retains authority to regulate mining and take action against illegal sand extraction in accordance with law. The Bench granted liberty to the authorities to initiate a fresh tender process after preparing and obtaining approval of a valid DSR in compliance with statutory provisions, the Sand Mining Guidelines, 2020, and Supreme Court jurisprudence.