The court said the order could not be said to be an excessive exercise of power by the state.
The court was dismissing a batch of over 500 writ petitions, challenging the newly-introduced rule, filed at the Principal seat here and the Madurai Bench.
A bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam said the Rule 38-C, introduced by the state Industries Department on February 11, 2011, was fully in conformity with the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act and rules.
Advocate General, A Navaneethakrishnan, said the rule had been introduced to curtail illicit transportation of sand and to wipe out escalation in its price by private dealers.
The court said all concerned, including the Centre and the state, had an obligation to conserve natural resources.
The Act empowered states to make rules for prevention of illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals.
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In exercise of that power, Rule 38-C had been inserted, the Bench said and rejected the contention of the petitioners' counsel that the rule related only to illegal mining, transportation and storage of sand and it had no universal application.
State Industries Principal Secretary had in an affidavit stated that under the amended rules, illegal mining of sand and its smuggling to neighbouring states had been brought under control to a great extent.
In one year, 4173 cases of illegal sand mining had been filed, 5033 persons arrested, 5501 vehicles seized, dozens of persons detained in preventive custody and Rs. 14 crore collected as penalty from such offenders.
The Bench said the statutory duty imposed on sand dealers under the rule for preventing illegal mining, storage and transportation of sand could not be held as illegal.