In Brief
The Supreme Court dismissed civil appeals filed by the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir challenging an NGT decision. The UT sought environmental clearance for sand mining on the Shaliganga Nallah without conducting a proper replenishment study, a mandatory component of the District Survey Report (DSR). Although the environmental authority imposed restrictions (1-meter depth limit, 34,800 MT production cap), the Court held such conditions cannot cure the fundamental illegality. A DSR without replenishment study is invalid. The Court emphasized that determining sustainable mining requires scientific assessment of the river's natural sand replenishment capacity—comparable to calculating tree growth before permitting timber harvesting. The judgment upheld strict environmental compliance standards and rejected compromises on foundational environmental documentation.
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