Supreme Court warns of a CBI inquiry into regularised mining leases in the Jojari-Luni-Bandi river system

26 October 2026

Hearing its own suo motu case, In Re: 2 Million Lives At Risk, Contamination In Jojari River, Rajasthan, the Supreme Court asked Rajasthan to explain why mining leases were granted and then regularised in areas earlier identified as illegal mining sites. The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta warned that it would order a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry if the State did not correct course. The Court accepted a committee recommendation to protect the entire recorded river corridors of the Jojari, Luni and Bandi, taking whichever boundary is wider in Revenue and Water Resources Department records. It held that the High Flood Line must reflect flood conditions and not dry-season flow, and the State said no fresh industrial permissions would be granted until flood lines are scientifically determined. Rajasthan was told to return with a financial proposal to fund common effluent treatment plants using zero-liquid-discharge technology. An earlier order bars construction within 100 metres of the river edge. The case is listed again for 27 November.