The plea alleged that licence for sand mining was granted despite the presence of forest land within 60 metres of the river bed.
Admitting the plea moved by P Arjunan, a resident of the area, a division bench of Justice S Manikumar and Justice P T Asha directed the district collector and the State Level Impact Assessment Authority to file their responses in three weeks.
According to petitioner, villages along the Cauvery river bed are mostly dependent on it for agriculture and it is a vital source for drinking water. While so, executive engineer of the public works department made a proposal to conduct mining in 30 acres of the river bed in Sarkar Manappalli village, which was approved by the district collector without obtaining public opinion, the petition said.
He claimed that environmental clearance was granted on the ground that there was no forest land within 100 metres of the proposed site, which was false, the plea said. He wanted the court to intervene and quash the permission accorded for mining.