Vijayawada: High Court on Thursday directed the principal secretaries of mining, revenue, home, environment and forests departments to jointly study illegal mining and sand excavation across the state and frame guidelines to curb such activities.High Court said the guidelines should provide for fixing responsibility on officials when they fail to prevent illegal mining and asked officials of the departments concerned to coordinate and file a comprehensive affidavit instead of submitting separate responses.A bench headed by Chief Justice Lisa Gill and comprising Justice Challa Gunaranjan found fault with departments shifting responsibility to one another and observed that lack of coordination was allowing illegal mining to continue. Observing that merely seizing vehicles and registering cases against drivers was not enough, High Court asked whether authorities had identified those behind the excavation.Former MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan filed the PIL seeking an inquiry by an independent committee headed by a retired judge and a senior IAS officer to identify those behind the alleged excavation in survey numbers 47 and 607 at Kavurivaripalem in Chirala mandal of Bapatla district.Arguing on behalf of the petitioner, advocate Ravi Prasad placed satellite photographs from 2022 and 2024 before the court. He contended that large pits had subsequently appeared at the site and alleged that around 200 truckloads of sand were being transported every day.Govt counsel Sai Vihari, appearing for the mining department, said 25 cases had been registered against persons illegally transporting sand. The home department informed the court that night surveillance had been increased, and pickets were being maintained.Considering the submissions, High Court directed all the connected departments to come up with comprehensive guidelines to curb illegal mining and to submit the same in the form of an affidavit.