SC flags ‘woeful’ shortage of Rajasthan forest staff amid Chambal mining crackdown

Key points

• The Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) observed that a “woeful shortage” of personnel in Rajasthan’s Forest Department was severely impeding efforts to combat the mining mafia operating within the Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, and urged the State to expedite the recruitment process.
• Taking up a suo motu proceeding initiated on the basis of news reports highlighting large-scale illegal sand mining in the tri-State sanctuary spread across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta expressed serious concern over the acute understaffing in the Forest Department, particularly in view of Rajasthan’s vast and ecologically significant forest cover.
• “Why is the Forest Department so understaffed in the State of Rajasthan?
• Rajasthan has such prime forests.
• It being so short-staffed is extremely serious,” the Bench observed.