❖ The Supreme Court has ordered the Rajasthan government to shutter 68 mines operating within a 1-kilometre periphery of the critical tiger habitat (CTH) of the Sariska reserve.

❖ Both the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and Environment Protection Act, 1986 prohibit quarrying in and around a tiger reserve

❖ In May 2005, the SC ordered the CBI to investigate the disappearance of tigers from the reserve in the Aravalli roughly halfway between Delhi and Jaipur.

❖ That was almost a decade and a half after the court first took up the issue of illegal mining in Sariska.

❖ In April 1993, the SC ordered the closure of 262 mines within that area.

❖ In September 2005, the SC laid down rules for issuing temporary mining permits in forest areas.

❖ But the mines were back in business in 2008 after the Rajasthan government claimed that the sanctuary boundary had been demarcated, and allowed quarries outside the 100-metre periphery of the sanctuary.