Chattisgarh High Court
Gram Panchayat, Hathnewra vs State Of Chhattisgarh on 28 April, 2026
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Digitally signed
by SAGRIKA
SAGRIKA AGRAWAL
AGRAWAL Date:
2026.05.01
14:54:00 +0530
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
WPC No. 1970 of 2026
Gram Panchayat, Hathnewra Through Its Sarpanch - Thakur Dushyant
Singh Chandel S/o Shri Shatrughan Singh Chandel, Aged About 44 Years,
R/o Ward No. 11, Village - Hathnewra, Tehsil - Champa, District - Janjgir-
Champa (C.G.)
... Petitioner(s)
versus
1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Secretary, Mineral Resources
Department, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Nawa Raipur, Atal Nagar,
District - Raipur (C.G.)
2 - Collector (Mining Branch) District Janjgir-Champa Chhattisgarh.
3 - Tehsildar Janjgir Champa District - Janjgir-Champa Chhattisgarh.
4 - Mining Officer District Janjgir- Champa Chhattisgarh.
... Respondent(s)
(cause title taken from CIS) 2 / 11 Order on Board 28/04/2026 Ms. Sharmila Singhai, Sr. Advocate along with Mr. Shashwat Rai, learned counsel for the petitioner.
Mr. Praveen Das, learned Addl. Advocate General for the Respondent/ State.
Heard I.A. No. 01 which is an application for grant of interim relief/ Stay.
Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that the respondent authorities have issued NIT for query lease for sand mining for four villages namely Hathnewra, Khapridih, Hadha, Karnaudh, Dist- Janjgir-Champa without there being any District Survey Report obtained from the District Collector and the bid was called from the interested participants from 21.04.2026 to 27.04.2026. She would submit that the Government of C.G. issued a notification on 12.09.2025 with respect to the general terms and conditions for query lease and trade of minor mineral ordinary sand and in the said notification dated 12.09.2025, Clause-11(22) is binding upon the respondent authorities which provides that the orders, rules and instructions of the Court, Central and State 3 / 11 Governments, issued from time to time, shall have to be necessarily complied with. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of State of Uttar Pradesh and Another Vs. Gaurav Kumar and Others (2025 SCC Online SC 1069), has held that the District Survey Report from the District Collector is pre-conditioned to grant query lease for general sand. There is no approved District Survey Report by the Collector before issuance of NIT and therefore the same cannot be acted upon.
On the other hand, learned State counsel, on instruction, would submit that there was a District Survey Report duly published in the official website of web portal of the department and prays for short time to file their response and parawise reply in the matter.
We have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material annexed with the petition.
The Clause 11 (22) of notification dated 12.09.2025 reads as under :-
"The orders, rules and instructions of the Court, Central and State Governments, issued from time to time, shall have to be necessarily complied with."4 / 11
The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of State of Uttar Pradesh and Another Vs. Gaurav Kumar and Others (2025 SCC Online SC 1069), has held that :-
12. Establishment of District Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) & District Expert Appraisal Committee (DEAC) under Para 3A: As is evident from the above extracted portion of the preamble to the EIA Notification 2016, two bodies namely, the DEIAA and DEAC have been established by inserting Para 3A to the EIA Notification, 2006 for grant of EC to a newly introduced category (by amending para 2), called category B2. The amended Para 3A establishing DEIAA and DEAC, is extracted herein below for ready reference;
"3A. District Level Environment Impact Authority: Assessment (1) A District Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority hereinafter referred to as the DEIAA shall be constituted by the Central Government under sub-section (3) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 comprising 5 / 11 of four members including a Chairperson and a Member-Secretary.
(2) The District Magistrate or District Collector shall be the Chairperson of the DEIAA.
(3) The Sub-Divisional Magistrate or Sub-Divisional Officer of the district head quarter of the concerned district of the State shall be the Member-Secretary of the DEIAA.
(4) The other two members of the DEIAA shall be the senior most Divisional Forest Officer and one expert. The expert shall be nominated by the Divisional Commissioner of the Division or Chief Conservator of Forest, as the case may be. The term and qualifications of the expert fulfilling the eligibility criteria are given in Appendix VII to this notification.
(5) The members of the DEIAA who are serving officers of the concerned State Government or the Union territory Administration shall be ex-officio members except the expert member.
(6) The District Level Expert Appraisal Committee hereinafter referred to as the DEAC shall comprise 6 / 11 of eleven members, including a Chairman and a Member-Secretary.
(7) The senior most Executive Engineer, Irrigation Department in the district of respective State Governments or Union territory Administration shall be the Chairperson of the DEAC.
(8) The Assistant Director or Deputy Director of the Department of Mines and Geology or District Mines Officer or Geologist of the district shall be the Member-Secretary of the DEAC in that order. (9) A representative of the State Pollution Control Board or Committee, senior most Sub-Divisional Officer (Forest) in the district, representative of Remote Sensing Department or Geology Department or State Ground Water Department, one occupational health expert or Medical Officer to be nominated by the District Magistrate or District Collector, Engineer from Zila Parishad, and three expert members to be nominated by the Divisional Commissioner or Chief Conservator of Forest, as the case may be, shall be the other members of the DEAC. The term and qualifications 7 / 11 of the experts fulfilling the eligibility criteria are given in Appendix VII to this notification. (10) The members of the DEAC who are serving officers of the or the Union concerned State Government territory Administration shall be ex-
officio members except the expert members. (11) The District Magistrate or District Collector shall notify an agency to act as Secretariat for the DEIAA and the DEAC and shall provide all financial and logistic support for their statutory functions. (12) The DEIAA and DEAC shall exercise the powers and follow the procedure as specified in the said notification, as amended from time to time. (13) The DEAC shall function on the principle of collective responsibility and the Chairman shall endeavor to reach a consensus in each case and if consensus cannot be reached, the view of the majority shall prevail";
19.2. We have also noted that the NGT has been taking a consistent stand about the mandatory requirement of a DSR being a condition precedent to carry mining activity, Further, the decision of the 8 / 11 NGT that DSR should be the basis for an application for grant of an EC and that an application without DSR is incomplete cannot be processed or proceeded further is correct in law. We may add that a 'draft DSR' is virtually a non- existing DSR for purpose of grant of environmental clearance.
20. Conclusion: Having considered the regulatory regime introduced from time to time, increasing the width as well as the depth of scrutiny before granting an environmental clearance for sand mining, we are of the opinion that there is a mandatory requirement of preparation of a DSR. The DSR shall form the basis for application of environmental clearance. It shall also be the basis for preparation of reports and also appraisal of the projects. Another important facet of DSR is that it shall be prepared for all the districts and the draft is to be placed in the public domain. There is a requirement for keeping a copy of DSR in Collectorate. It must also be posted on the district's website for 21 days. After comments are received, 9 / 11 they shall be considered and if found correct, they will be incorporated in the final report. The final DSR will then be finalized within 6 months by the DEIAA. The lifetime of the report is five years. After five years the existing DSR will not be tenable and a new DSR will have to be prepared and finalized. The purpose and object of prescribing a lifetime of five years for subsistence of a DSR is for the reason that the position of ecology and the environment is rapidly changing and the position that exists five years. back, may not subsist for later days. It is true that it might have changed even before the expiry of five years but a reasonable estimate, to work as a benchmark is a policy consideration. May be a precautionary principle, it is not only legal and valid but is also mandatory. It must be enforced strictly and with all vigor.
21. We conclude by holding that:
(i). A District Survey Report is a document of seminal importance as it enables informed decision making.10 / 11
(ii). Preparation of a DSR as per the procedure prescribed for its preparation under Appendix X, read with para 7 (iii) (a), is required to be followed meticulously.
(iii) A valid and a subsisting DSR alone can be the basis for an application for grant of EC. A draft DSR is untenable for grant of an EC.
(iv). Preparation of reports and appraisal of projects by DEIAA and DEAC shall be on the basis of a valid and a subsisting DSR.
(v). DEIAA and DEAC are recognized as the authorities fastened with the statutory duty of preparing the DSR every five years and this duty compels them to have a comprehensive and a real time perspective of the environment position of the district including its eco-sensitivity and other fragilities."
Learned State counsel is directed to bring on record the instruction received by him and file parawise reply in the matter within a week.
Thereafter, learned counsel for the petitioner may file rejoinder within a week.
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It is directed that any order passed by the authorities with respect to the subject Tender No. 728/Kh.Li.1/Sand Auction/2025 during pendency of the present petition, shall be subject to the final outcome of the present writ petition.
List this case on 12.05.2026.
Sd/- Sd/-
(Ravindra Kumar Agrawal ) (Ramesh Sinha)
Judge Chief Justice
sagrika