The Supreme Court of India has ordered the State of Rajasthan to immediately constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe large-scale, organized illegal bajri mining across the Jojari, Bandi, and Luni river basins. The directive, issued by a bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta on October 26, 2026, marks a significant escalation in judicial oversight concerning the region’s long-standing environmental crisis. The SIT, to be led by an officer at or above the rank of Inspector General of Police, is tasked with identifying the networks behind the illegal extraction and transport of riverbed minerals, as well as investigating potential collusion or dereliction of duty by public officials.

This judicial intervention follows persistent reports of extensive excavation that has compromised the natural flow paths and groundwater recharge capabilities of these vital water systems. The Court emphasized that administrative reporting of individual case registrations and minor penalties is insufficient to address the systematic degradation of the riverbeds. "The State cannot discharge its obligation to protect the river systems merely by reporting the number of cases detected," the bench remarked, stressing that the cumulative ecological damage requires a more profound, scientifically grounded response than the current regulatory framework has provided.

Beyond the mining investigation, the Court has placed a strict moratorium on the establishment of new industrial units in the vicinity of these rivers. This restriction will remain in effect until the state government completes a scientific determination of the High Flood Line and establishes mandatory buffer zones using reliable records from the Revenue and Water Resources Departments. To provide further insulation for the ecosystem, the Court mandated an additional protective zone of 100 meters on either side of the rivers’ outer boundaries, with an absolute prohibition on red-category industries within 500 meters of these corridors.

The proceedings also highlighted a significant conflict regarding attempts to redefine river widths. The High-Level Ecosystem Oversight Committee had previously raised concerns that state officials were attempting to calculate river boundaries based on projected sewage and treated wastewater volumes, rather than their historical geographical extent. The Court and the committee concurred that such a methodology was fundamentally flawed and would effectively reduce protected waterways into narrow, polluted channels. "Such an exercise, in the Committee’s view, would defeat the object of the directions issued by this Court for the preservation, protection and restoration of the river ecosystem," the committee noted, warning that relying on sewage flow as a boundary metric was scientifically invalid and contrary to the restoration goals.

The industrial impact on these rivers remains a primary focus, particularly regarding the progress of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) and Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) facilities in the Jodhpur, Pali, and Balotra clusters. The Court expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of implementation, noting that administrative assurances of completion cannot replace functional capacity. While acknowledging a new 4 MLD ZLD project, the Court insisted that the state must ensure total ZLD compliance and requested a comprehensive policy for providing financial assistance to smaller units struggling to meet these stringent environmental standards.

Furthermore, the Court impleaded the Central Ground Water Authority to provide a detailed report on the critical groundwater depletion in Balotra, Jodhpur, and Pali. Experts have long characterized these areas as "Dark Zones" due to extreme over-exploitation. Concerns raised during the hearings suggested that continued industrial water extraction in these regions poses an existential threat to both ecological stability and the future of local agriculture. The state is expected to provide a detailed response to these findings in its next affidavit.

The bench also addressed the status of industrial units facing closure orders from the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board. It clarified that its previous orders mandating judicial permission to resume operations were designed to enforce environmental safeguards, but this does not extinguish the statutory appellate jurisdiction of the National Green Tribunal. The Court ruled that industrial entities have the right to seek recourse through the appropriate appellate forums to challenge independent regulatory actions on their merits, provided such challenges do not serve as a back-door mechanism to resume operations in defiance of broader environmental protections.

As the litigation proceeds, the Court has appointed Senior Counsel Balbir Singh as Amici Curiae to assist in consolidating the disparate district-level blueprints into a single, cohesive restoration plan for the entire Luni river system. This comprehensive plan is expected to outline specific, time-bound measures, identify clear institutional responsibilities, and provide measurable milestones for remediation. The state is under strict instructions to prioritize the restoration of these riverbanks and ensure that current mining leases, particularly those involving large-scale operations in sensitive areas like the village of Kanana, undergo rigorous cumulative environmental impact assessments before further extraction is permitted.

The SIT is expected to file its initial status report, outlining the breadth of the illegal mining networks and any identified complicity by officials, by November 27, 2026. This date will also serve as a critical juncture for the Court to review the state’s progress in establishing the mandated redistribution pipeline networks designed to reuse treated wastewater, thereby reducing the discharge of effluents directly into the river systems. Through these measures, the Court aims to transition from intermittent enforcement to a more permanent, science-based model of river management that holds both industrial actors and state authorities accountable for the long-term health of the Luni-Jojari-Bandi basin.