INTRODUCTION
The issue forth of sand mining, i.e., the extraction of sand and other aggregates from riverbeds and coastal areas, represents the most exploited natural resource in India after water, with an annual demand exceeding 500 million tonnes1. However, such activities have a detrimental influence on river morphology, erosion patterns, aquatic habitats, and agrarian efficiency and throughput due to groundwater exploitation and siltation. Notwithstanding the comprehensive legislative regime under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation)Act, 1957 (MMDR Act)2, illegal mining activities have continued to represent an organized crime concerning manifold of territories in India, owing to the dearth of operational execution structures, patronage from politicians, and inadequate surveillance mechanisms.3
The suo motu public interest litigation filed by the Karnataka High Court in January 2026 to address Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwar’s statement in the legislative assembly that there were instances of “influential people” involved in illegal sand mining movements represents a landmark judgment in the interventionist role of the judiciary45. The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha registered the public interest litigation on the basis of night-time sand mining activities in the Krishna River basin, death threats to MLA Kareemma G. Nayak from the sand mafia, and complaints from farmers on crop damages owing to mining activities.67
Simultaneously, technological developments in artificial intelligence and satellite remote sensing possess significant transformative possibilities for real-time monitoring of mining activities. States like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have started implementing AI-based surveillance systems that utilize satellite imagery from sources such as Sentinel-2 and Landsat satellites and machine learning techniques to identify illegal extraction sites.8 A study conducted at the School of Information at UC Berkeley proves that the implementation of deep learning techniques and freely available multispectral satellite imagery can be used to automatically detect sand mining activities, thereby filling significant gaps in existing academic literature and monitoring practices9. This paper aims to evaluate the possibilities of implementing AI-optimized satellite remote sensing within the existing framework of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to address the issues of governance highlighted by the Karnataka High Court intervention.
A. Research Methodology
The methodology that would be employed in this paper would be a doctrinal and analytical methodology for assessing the relationship between technological innovation and the enforcement of mineral laws. The primary materials that would be consulted for this paper would include the Mines And Minerals (Development And Regulation)Act 1957 as comprehensively amended in 2015, 2023, 2025, as well as the State mining regulations, Karnataka High Court pronouncements in Writ Petition No. 2938 of 202610, as well as the guidelines issued by the Indian Bureau of Mines for the enforcement of the aforesaid legislation11. The secondary materials that would be consulted for this paper would include peer-reviewed articles on the use of remote sensing technology for mining detection, governmental policy documents on artificial intelligence-based surveillance systems, as well as scholarly articles on environmental compliance mechanisms. The methodology that would be employed for this paper would include a review of the amendments to the Mines And Minerals (Development And Regulation)Act for assessing the penalty provisions as well as the compliance requirements, as well as a review of the remote sensing literature for assessing the accuracy of the system, as well as judicial pronouncements that establish precedents for technology-based enforcement. The period that would be considered for this paper would be from 2023 to 2026, which would include recent amendments to the legislation as well as the pronouncement12 by the Karnataka High Court suo motu. The limitations that would be faced while conducting this paper would include limited access to artificial intelligence-based detection systems employed by state governments as well as a lack of empirical validation data for Indian mining activities.
B. Literature Review
Research on the utilization of remote sensing technology for the detection of illegal mining through machine learning models has increased in recent times due to the availability of free satellite imagery and the improvement of machine learning models. A 2024 study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment offered a comprehensive review of the utilization of remote sensing technology for the detection of artisanal and small-scale mining13, highlighting the need to adapt the methods to the unique spatial characteristics of these mining sites. A study comparing the utilization of Random Forest, SVM, and ANN models for the detection of surface mining through Sentinel-2 imagery at extraction sites in Germany highlighted the superiority of SVM models when validated14 against ground truth data, offering significant opportunities for scalable monitoring of the environment.
Some of the initiatives taken specifically in the Indian context include the India Sand Watch, a platform that began in 2023 with the aim of tracking the activities of sand mining across the country, utilizing crowd-sourced information, with plans to incorporate satellite imaging capabilities15. Another project, conducted by the research team from UC Berkeley, led by Nair and Ando, began in 2024 with the aim of filling the information vacuum by utilizing open-source deep learning models, coupled with Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery16, with the aim of automating the detection of sand mining. These technological advancements, therefore, accompany legal literature that examines the amendments made to the Mines And Minerals (Development And Regulation)Act, with particular focus on the increased penalties provided by the amendments of 2015, whereby the penalty ranges from ₹25,000 to ₹5 lakh per hectare, with a corresponding jail sentence of two to five years, with the aim of acting as a deterrent against the violation of the Act.
In the present context, the literature shows that the integration of AI-generated remote sensing evidence with the legal process of enforcing the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act is not adequately addressed. In fact, while technological feasibility reports abound, legal literature fails to address the standards of admissibility of evidence of violation reports generated by satellite imaging, the procedural aspects of utilizing AI-generated evidence of violations of the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, or the constitutional ramifications of the automated enforcement of the provisions of the Act. This research, therefore, addresses the information vacuum with the aim of examining the role of the orders of the Karnataka High Court that provide judicial precedent for the integration of the technological process with the legal process of enforcing the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.
LEGAL FRAMEWORK: MINES AND MINERALS (DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION) ACT AND RECENT AMENDMENTS
The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 provides the foundational framework for the regulation of mineral resources in India, providing the Central Government with the powers to declare the importance of the mineral resources in the country, as well as the conditions for the grant of the mineral lease. The amendments of 2015 have brought about significant changes in the regulation of the mineral resources in the country, including the mandatory auction of mineral concessions, the establishment of the District Mineral Foundations, the creation of the National Mineral Exploration Trust, and the enhancement of the penalty provisions, including imprisonment for a term of five years, in addition to a fine of up to Rs. 5 lakh per hectare, for the contravention of the provisions of Section 4(1) of the Act, which provides for the prohibition of unauthorized mining operations.
The amendments of 2023 have focused primarily on the regulation of critical and strategic mineral resources, including the facilitation of the exploration of the mineral resources in the country, as well as the incentivization of the production of the mineral resources in the country in order to reduce the dependence of the country on the import of the mineral resources. The Mines And Minerals (Development And Regulation)Amendment Act, 2025, notified in October 2025, provides refinements in the operationalization of the mineral lease, including the timelines for the grant of the mineral lease from the letter of intent, the creation of the Project Management Unit for liaison with the departments of the Government, as well as the imposition of penalties for the delays in the grant of the mineral lease, attributed to the bidder, as well as the incentivization of the early commencement of the mineral production operations.
The mechanisms of enforcement under the Mines And Minerals (Development And Regulation) regime are currently dependent on the state’s mining department and the Indian Bureau of Mines, which conducts inspections and serves violation notices to miners, along with recommending prosecution or suspension of mining activities in the event of severe violations. However, the Act does not specifically include the use of remote sensing technologies or AI-based monitoring systems in its regime of compliance verification mechanisms. This lacuna in the Act creates an ambiguity with regards to the admissibility of satellite-based evidence in penalty cases, the powers of mining officials to prosecute miners on the basis of AI-based evidence, and the procedures to be followed in AI-based surveillance systems. However, the Karnataka High Court’s 2026 rulings, which contemplate investigation under the court’s supervision and accept the helplessness of the state machinery in dealing with mafia activities, suggest an implicit recognition of the need to augment the existing infrastructure with technological support17.
AI-SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGIES FOR MINING DETECTION
Technical Mechanism and Detection Accuracy
Satellite-based remote sensing for the detection of illegal mining activities utilizes multispectral images, where the satellite senses the electromagnetic signals in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, thereby detecting land cover changes resulting from the extraction of resources. Sentinel-2 satellite images, provided by the European Space Agency, offer high-resolution images at 10-meter resolution, with a revisit rate of every five days, making it possible for near-real-time monitoring of riverine mining activities18.
Studies have shown that Support Vector Machine classifiers have higher accuracy in detecting mining activities than the Random Forest Classifier and Artificial Neural Network Classifier, even after training the machine learning algorithm with labeled data sets of confirmed mining activities. The algorithm is capable of developing optimal hyperplanes in high-dimensional space, thereby ensuring maximum accuracy in classifying the land cover types, separating the areas where mining activities have occurred from the surrounding natural land cover types19. Deep learning techniques, such as convolutional neural networks, have also shown better accuracy in detecting mining activities through satellite images, as the algorithm is capable of automatically learning spatial features in satellite images, thereby reducing the dependence on spectral features in the image.
Detection accuracy of over 85% in the detection of surface mining activities, with false positive rates minimized through the use of time series analysis, have been shown in pilot projects conducted in the study area.
State Level Implementation in India
The state of Uttar Pradesh was also the pioneer in implementing AI-based mining surveillance on a large scale, setting up 57 AI and IoT-based checkages to monitor vehicles involved in mineral transportation, resulting in blacklisting more than 21,477 vehicles involved in illegal activities. The Directorate of Geology and Mining uses satellite imagery to detect illegal mining sites, as well as to locate potential zones for mineral exploitation, using Arc-GIS and LISS-IV data for this purpose. The Remote Sensing Lab also draws geological maps to monitor legal mining leases. The Vehicle Tracking System also includes modules for generating reports for a Management Information System, which are generated by AIS 140 GPS devices to detect illegal transportation of minerals.20
The state of Madhya Pradesh also successfully implemented a satellite-based system for mining surveillance, which involved geo-tagging all mining leases and developing a portal for easy access to District Collectors and mining officials, enabling automated alerts to be sent to concerned officials when satellite imagery detects illegal mining activities, which are then verified on the ground by officials using mobile applications. The Madhya Pradesh Illegal Mining, Transportation, and Storage Rules, 2022, also clearly outlines the consequences for illegal mining, transportation, and storage, which are to be enforced by officials upon verification of illegal activities.21
CASE ANALYSIS: KARNATAKA HIGH COURT SUO MOTU PIL 2026
The initiation of the Karnataka High Court’s Writ Petition No. 2938 of 2026 is an unprecedented judicial intervention to address the problem of illegal sand mining, which has been going on for quite some time, in response to Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwar’s statement made in the legislative assembly on January 27, 2026, where he admitted to the involvement of “influential people” in sand mining rackets. In this case, the Division Bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha made the observation that “if the Home Minister himself feels helpless in taking action to curb illegal sand mining by mafias, then there cannot be any hope that the said illegal activity can be curbed by the State machinery.”22 This statement of the Home Minister of Karnataka admitted to the failure of the state enforcement machinery to check the illegal sand mining, and this is the judicial predicate for technology-based monitoring.
The High Court mentioned several incidents of illegal sand mining, such as the mining of sand from the Krishna River basin at night, causing damage to agricultural lands through the deposition of dust on the crops, and the issuance of death threats to Raichur MLA Karemma G. Nayak by the sand mafia for expressing her concern about the illegal sand mining in her constituency. By ordering the registration of a PIL, the High Court Bench recognized the inadequacy of the state enforcement machinery to deal effectively with organized sand mining cartels through a court-monitored investigation by a central agency/Special Investigation Team.23
The order passed by the High Court allowing four weeks to respond and to list the matter for further hearing on April 7, 2026, indicates that the High Court Bench recognized the inadequacy of the state enforcement machinery to deal effectively with organized sand mining cartels.24
The Karnataka orders align with the Supreme Court’s environmental jurisprudence in cases like M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India (Taj Trapezium Case), where the Court ordered implementation of technological monitoring solutions like continuous emission monitoring systems to control industrial pollution25. The Karnataka PIL case can be said to extend this precedent to mineral resource governance, implying that AI-satellite surveillance solutions can be integrated as constitutionally permissible solutions to mineral resource governance in accordance with Articles 21 (the right to environment) and 48A (the constitutional duty of the State to protect the environment).
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Firstly, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act should be amended to include specific provisions that mandate compliance audits through satellite remote sensing for all mining leases and reconnaissance permits. Proposed Section 23B could state:
“Lessee shall undertake to provide satellite imagery on a quarterly basis to ensure that mining activities are confined to the lease area. Failure to comply shall invite penalties under Section 21(2).”
This would encourage voluntary compliance and also provide the enforcement authorities with guidelines to monitor compliance.
Secondly, the District Mineral Foundations should be empowered to procure AI-based satellite monitoring services to create decentralized surveillance systems that can adapt to local mining activities. DMF funds currently collected for welfare activities can be partly used to procure such technologies, in line with the constitutional mandate under Article 48A to protect natural resources. Amendment to the DMF Rules to allow expenditure on technology procurement can be proposed up to a limit of 10% of the total collections under the DMF account.
Third, the standards of evidence applicable to AI-satellite data should be clearly set forth through amendments to the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 2017. Proposed Rule 45A could specify the certification criteria that need to be met with regard to reports of violations furnished by the satellite, including the disclosure of algorithms used, the nature of the training data sets, the thresholds of classification, etc. The establishment of Technical Review Committees, comprising experts from the domain of remote sensing, mining engineering, and judicial members, could be provided to afford lessees the option of appeal against determinations made by the AI-satellite. This would ensure the maintenance of due process while keeping the effectiveness of the law enforcement process intact.
Fourth, the model of judicially monitored technological implementation followed by the Karnataka High Court could be institutionalized through the establishment of judicial committees that oversee the enforcement of mining regulations in high-risk mining districts. These judicial committees, comprising High Court Judges, could periodically review reports of surveillance conducted through satellite, assess the responsiveness of law enforcement, and order investigative actions where the state apparatus is found to be wanting. This model of judicial oversight, well-established with regard to environmental matters, would ensure that the law is strictly enforced without the need to commence Public Interest Litigations.
CONCLUSION
The Karnataka High Court’s suo motu order of 2026 against the menace of illegal mining of sand reflects the judicial acknowledgment that the conventional mechanisms of law enforcement are found to be inadequate against the mineral mafia who operate with the political patronage of the government. The convergence of the judicial order with the technological advancement of AI-optimized satellite remote sensing offers the potential to address the systemic governance failure in the management of mineral resources. The operational viability of the technological solution is supported by the empirical evidence of the successful operationalization of the solution at the state level in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, as well as the research findings of the international study that validated the detection accuracies of the solution at over 85%.
However, the potential of the technological solution can be realized with the integration of the solution with the legal framework, which transcends the institutional experimentation of the solution. The silence of the Mines And Minerals (Development And Regulation) Act, 1957, with regard to the role of remote sensing, coupled with the institutional fragmentation of the mining departments, renders legal uncertainty to the operationalization of the solution. The amendments that have been proposed, mandating the conduct of compliance audits through satellite remote sensing, the power of District Mineral Foundations to procure technologies, the establishment of judicial oversight committees, etc., will operationalize the AI-satellite solution within the constitutionally valid legal framework of law enforcement. The judicial orders of the Karnataka High Court do not place the role of technology as a supporting role but as a role that is constitutionally mandatory, reflecting the helplessness of the state machinery. The judicial orders, therefore, offer the doctrinal foundation upon which the amendments can be made. The experience of India with the intensification of environmental challenges and the systemic governance failure with regard to the management of mineral resources offers the potential of the integration of the AI-optimized satellite remote sensing solution with the Mines And Minerals (Development And Regulation) Act, 1957, not as a technological solution but as a constitutional solution that ensures the mineral wealth of the country is utilized not for the mafia but for the common good, and the riverine ecosystem is preserved not for the mafia but to ensure the continuation of the agricultural ecosystem.
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Footnotes
1. Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India, Note on Illegal Mining (2023), https://mines.gov.in/admin/storage/app/up loads/64355379aee481681216377.pdf.
2. Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, No. 67 of 1957, INDIA CODE (as amended by Act 10 of 2015).
3. Note on Illegal Mining, supra note 5 (Ministry of Mines) (background on scale and patterns).
4. In re Illegal Sand Mining Across the Rivers in Karnataka, Writ Petition (PIL) No. 2938 of 2026 (Karnataka HC Jan. 27, 2026) (suo motu)
5. File response to suo motu PIL on illegal sand mining within four weeks: Karnataka HC to state government, INDIAN EXPRESS (Feb. 20, 2026), https://indianexpress.com/article/legal-news/illegal-sand-mining-karnataka-hc-to-state-government-10542132/.
6. DRP 020226: Karnataka High Court monitored probe into sand mining menace, SOUTH ASIA NETWORK ON DAMS, RIVERS AND PEOPLE (SANDRP) (Feb. 2, 2026), https://sandrp.in/2026/02/02/drp-020226-karnataka-high-court-monitored-probe-into-sand-mining-menace/.
7. Karnataka high court grants four weeks to state to respond to suo motu PIL on illegal sand mining, TIMES OF INDIA (Feb. 19, 2026).
8. UP govt cracks down on illegal mining with AI, drones, THE PRINT (July 1, 2025), https://theprint.in/india/up-govt-cracks-down-on-illegal-mining-with-ai-drones/2677345/. UP uses AI, drones, and satellites to stop illegal mining, HINDUSTAN TIMES (July 2, 2025), https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/lucknow-news/up-uses-ai-drones-and-satellites-to-stop-illegal-mining-101751480730320.html. Illegal mining will be stopped in MP with the help of AI technologies like satellite images and remote sensing, DELHI BULLETIN (May 28, 2025), https://delhibulletin.in/illegal-mining-will-be-stopped-in-mp-with-the-help-of-ai-technologies-like-satellite-images-and-remote-sensing/.
9. New Research Aims to Curb Illegal Sand Mining with Data-Driven Mapping Tools, UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF INFO. (Apr. 21, 2024), https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/news/2024/new-research-aims-curb-illegal-sand-mining-data-driven-mapping-tools., Sand Mining – Plugging a Critical Data Gap, UC BERKELEY D-LAB (May 13, 2024), https://dlab.berkeley.edu/news/sand-mining-plugging-critical-data-gap.
10. In re Illegal Sand Mining Across the Rivers in Karnataka, Writ Petition (PIL) No. 2938 of 2026 (Karnataka HC Jan. 27, 2026) (suo motu).
11. Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, No. 67 of 1957, INDIA CODE (as amended by Act 10 of 2015). The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015, No. 10 of 2015, INDIA CODE. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023, No. 19 of 2023, Gazette of India, Extraordinary, pt. II, sec. 1 (Aug. 17, 2023). The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2025, No. 32 of 2025, Gazette of India, Extraordinary, pt. II, sec. 1 (Oct. 4, 2025).
12. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023, No. 19 of 2023, Gazette of India, Extraordinary, pt. II, sec. 1 (Aug. 17, 2023). The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2025, No. 32 of 2025, Gazette of India, Extraordinary, pt. II, sec. 1 (Oct. 4, 2025).
13. Remote sensing of artisanal and small-scale mining: A review of methods, 951 SCI. TOTAL ENV’T 173559 (2024), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724059175.
14. Assessing Machine Learning Models for Surface Mining Detection Using Sentinel-2 Data, PREPRINTS 2025:202503.2261 (Mar. 30, 2025), https://sciety.org/articles/activity/10.20944/preprints202503.2261.v1.
15. Sand Mining Watch, GLOBAL POLICY SCIENCE (Mar. 21, 2024), http://www.globalpolicy.science/sand-mining-watch.
16. Sand Mining Prediction Using Satellite Images, INT’L J. ADVANCED RES. SCI., COMM. & TECH. (2024), https://ijarsct.co.in/Paper29949.pdf. New Research Aims to Curb Illegal Sand Mining with Data-Driven Mapping Tools, UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF INFO. (Apr. 21, 2024), https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/news/2024/new-research-aims-curb-illegal-sand-mining-data-driven-mapping-tools.
17. In re Illegal Sand Mining Across the Rivers in Karnataka, Writ Petition (PIL) No. 2938 of 2026 (Karnataka HC Jan. 27, 2026) (suo motu). DRP 020226: Karnataka High Court monitored probe into sand mining menace, SOUTH ASIA NETWORK ON DAMS, RIVERS AND PEOPLE (SANDRP) (Feb. 2, 2026), https://sandrp.in/2026/02/02/drp-020226-karnataka-high-court-monitored-probe-into-sand-mining-menace/.
18. Sentinel-2 mission overview, EUR. SPACE AGENCY, https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/missions/sentinel-2
19. Remote sensing of artisanal and small-scale mining: A review of methods, 951 SCI. TOTAL ENV’T 173559 (2024), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724059175. Sand Mining Prediction Using Satellite Images, INT’L J. ADVANCED RES. SCI., COMM. & TECH. (2024), https://ijarsct.co.in/Paper29949.pdf.
20. UP govt cracks down on illegal mining with AI, drones, THE PRINT (July 1, 2025), https://theprint.in/india/up-govt-cracks-down-on-illegal-mining-with-ai-drones/2677345/. UP uses AI, drones, and satellites to stop illegal mining, HINDUSTAN TIMES (July 2, 2025), https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/lucknow-news/up-uses-ai-drones-and-satellites-to-stop-illegal-mining-101751480730320.html. Technology-Driven Strategies to Combat Illegal Mining, SOFTWEB SOLUTIONS BLOG (Feb. 18, 2026), https://softweb.co.in/blog/technology-to-combat-illegal-mining/.
21. Illegal mining will be stopped in MP with the help of AI technologies like satellite images and remote sensing, DELHI BULLETIN (May 28, 2025), https://delhibulletin.in/illegal-mining-will-be-stopped-in-mp-with-the-help-of-ai-technologies-like-satellite-images-and-remote-sensing/. Madhya Pradesh Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage Rules, 2022, Gazette of Madhya Pradesh, Extraordinary (2022).
22. In re Illegal Sand Mining Across the Rivers in Karnataka, Writ Petition (PIL) No. 2938 of 2026 (Karnataka HC Jan. 27, 2026) (suo motu).
23. DRP 020226: Karnataka High Court monitored probe into sand mining menace, SOUTH ASIA NETWORK ON DAMS, RIVERS AND PEOPLE (SANDRP) (Feb. 2, 2026), https://sandrp.in/2026/02/02/drp-020226-karnataka-high-court-monitored-probe-into-sand-mining-menace/. Karnataka high court grants four weeks to state to respond to suo motu PIL on illegal sand mining, TIMES OF INDIA (Feb. 19, 2026).
24. File response to suo motu PIL on illegal sand mining within four weeks: Karnataka HC to state government, INDIAN EXPRESS (Feb. 20, 2026), https://indianexpress.com/article/legal-news/illegal-sand-mining-karnataka-hc-to-state-government-10542132/.
25. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, (1997) 2 SCC 353 (Taj Trapezium)