Writ Petition (M/S) No. 7221 of 2001. Case: Sarvshri Satysheel and Co., Kailash Gait and Ors. Vs State of U.P. and Ors.. Uttarakhand High Court
| Case Number | Writ Petition (M/S) No. 7221 of 2001 |
| Counsel | For Petitioners: B.P. Nautiyal, Sr. Advocate assisted by Jayavardhan Kandpal, Adv. And For Respondents: K.C. Tiwari, Brief Holder |
| Judges | Sudhanshu Dhulia, J. |
| Issue | Forest (conservation) Act, 1980 - Section 2; General Clauses Act 1897 - Section 21 |
| Citation | AIR 2012 Utr 69 |
| Judgement Date | December 08, 2011 |
| Court | Uttarakhand High Court |
Order:
Sudhanshu Dhulia, J.
1. Heard Mr. B.P. Nautiyal, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Jayavardhan Kandpal, Advocate, for the petitioners and Mr. K. C. Tiwari, Brief Holder for the State of Uttarakhand. The petitioners have challenged the order dated 16.12.1996 whereby the State Government in exercise of power under Rule 78 of the Uttar Pradesh Minor Minerals (Concession) Rules, 1963 (from hereinafter referred to as the "Rules"), as presently applicable in the State of Uttarakhand, has cancelled the mining lease of the petitioners.
2. Brief facts of the case are that vide orders dated 27.6.1994, 2.6.1994 and 29.6.1994 the petitioners were granted mining lease for extracting/picking minor minerals. These lease deeds were executed consequent to an order passed by appropriate authorities. One of the orders which have been referred to (though not annexed by the petitioners) is the order dated 8.6.1994. Subsequent to the lease deeds executed, the District Magistrate moved a report before the State Government stating that these lease deeds could not have been executed as the land in question lies under the forest area and it is in violation of Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (from hereinafter referred to as Act). Section 2 of the Act reads as follows:-
2. Restriction on the dereservation of forests or use of forest land for non-forest purpose.- Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force in a State, no State Government or other authority shall make except with the prior approval of the Central Government, any order directing,-
(i) that any reserved forest (within the meaning of the expression "reserved forest" in any law for the time being in force in that State) or any portion thereof, shall cease to be reserved;
(ii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose
(iii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or any other organization not owned, managed or controlled by Government;
(iv) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for reforestation]
3. In short, no non-forest activity (as the mining undoubtedly is non-forest activity) can be done in a forest area unless and until prior permission of the Central Government is obtained. This...
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