Judgment

VENKATARAMIAH, J. :- Respondent No. 1 Banshi Ram Modi was granted a mining lease by the State of Bihar for mining and winning mica in respect of an area of eighty acres of land in the villages of Meghatri and Bishuntikar in the district Hazaribagh,, which formed part of reserved forest area in the year 1966. A mining lease deed was executed in that connection by the lessee and the State Government on April 25, 1966 in accordance with the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960. The lease deed was registered on May 30, 1966. The period of lease was fixed at 20 years. The said lease will expire on April 24, 1986 unless it is renewed in accordance with law.

2. During his mining operations which are admittedly now being carried on in about five acres only Respondent No. 1 came across two other minerals namely felspar and quartz which are commonly known to be associate minerals of mica. Under the conditions of the lease the lessee had to report to the State Government the discovery in the leased area of any mineral not specified in the lease within sixty days of such discovery and if any mineral not specified in the lease was so discovered in the leased area he could not win and dispose of such mineral unless such mineral was included in the lease or a separate lease was obtained therefor. Accordingly, on discovery of felspar and quartz in the area where the mining operations were being carried on for mica, Respondent No. 1 applied to the State Government to include the said minerals also in the lease executed on April 25, 1966, so that he could win and dispose of those minerals also. On the State Government agreeing to do so, a deed of Incorporation dated April 6, 1983 was duly executed by the parties to the original lease. By the said deed, felspar and quartz were included in the original lease as minerals which the lessee could win and carry away after paying the required royalty from the area over which he had been granted lease for mining mica. All other conditions of the lease including the period of lease remained the same. In fact it was not a new mining lease for a fresh period. The lease is to expire on April 24, 1986 as originally stipulated.

3. It may be mentioned here that the State Government did not obtain the previous approval of the Central Government for the inclusion of the two new. minerals in the original lease under clause (ii) of section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (Act 69 of 1980) (hereinafter referred to as the Act) which was deemed to have come into force on October 25, 1980. The relevant part of section 2 of the Act reads as under : -

"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,,

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

(ii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose.

Explanation - For the purposes of this section non-forest purpose means breaking up or clearing of any forest land or portion thereof for any purpose other than reafforestation."

4. It would appear that after the coming into force of the Act the Government of India (Ministry of Agriculture) wrote to the Chief Secretary, to the Government of Bihar drawing his attention to the provisions of the Act, and the prohibitions contained therein. Perhaps, as a result of the said letter the Divisional Forest Officer, Kodarma Forest Division, Kodarma, within whose jurisdiction the mining area of Respondent No. 1 was situated, wrote to Respondent No. 1 on August 8, 1983 stating that the mining area was situated within the reserved forest area and that since previous approval of the Central Government had not been obtained for inclusion of felspar and quartz in the mining lease as required by the Act, Respondent No. 1