A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice N K Jain issued show cause notice to Principal Secretary Mines, Rajasthan and Secretary, Union Ministry for Environment, Mines and Geology.
The order came on a petition filed by one Battulal Meena who challenged the rules framed under Rajasthan Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1986.
The petition claimed that lease for extracting precious minor minerals like limestone, marble, granite etc are being allotted in the state under first-come, first-secure basis, while low quality and less priced mineral stone like Chezza stone is being awarded by public auctioning which is highly "arbitrary and whimsical".
The petition claimed that in response to a RTI plea, it was found that a block of seven limestone mines were recently allotted in Chittorghar without following any auction process.
"There is no transparency in the allotment process of mines in the state and those who are big shots are 'managing' the affairs in the name of first come first secure policy which needs to be checked," said Lokesh Sharma, counsel for the petitioner.