ORDER

This special leave petition arises from the order of the Division Bench of Orissa High Court dated March 16, 1995, in Civil Writ Petition No. 1545 of 1995. The petition has established a Saw mill in the year 1980, in Keonjhar District of Orissa State. The notice under S.4(1) of Orissa Saw Mills & Saw Pits (Control) Act 1991, (for short the Act) was issued to the petitioner to close down its operations with immediate effect. Challenging the validity of S.4(1) of the Act and the notice, he filed the writ petition contending that it violates his fundamental right to carry on trade and business and also created invidious discrimination to the Saw Mills/Saw Pits situated in that district vis-a-vis other districts. It was also contended that the act did not create any total ban but gave discretion to the licensing authority to grant or refuse the renewal of licence. Without considering their application for renewal, direction to close down the mill is arbitrary. The Division Bench negatived both the contentions relying upon its Full Bench judgment in Lakshmi Narayan Saw Mills v. State of Orisss, (1995) 1 Orissa LR 1 (FB). The petitioner placed reliance on a Division Bench judgment of that Court in M/s. Saraswati Saw Mills v. State of Orissa, 1995 (79) CRT 61. It is contended for the petitioner that the views of the Full Bench and the Division Bench judgment in question are not correct. A reading of the Act does not indicate that the statute imposed total prohibition on the right to carry on the Saw Mill business. Even otherwise, mills situated within the district have been discriminated as its geographical contiguity of District is such that no Saw Mills can be established or exist within 10k.m. as envisaged under proviso to S.4(1) of the Act. Therefore, it violates their fundamental rights under Arts. 14, 19(1)(g) and 301 of the Constitution.

2. The Act came into force on November 20, 1991. The Rules made in exercise of the power under S.23 have come into force on November 18, 1993. The Act was enacted to regulate establishment and operation of Saw Mills and Saw Pits and trade of sawing to protect and conserve forest and environment and for matters incidental thereto or connected therewith. The "forest area" is defined to mean all notified lands as forest under any law and administered as forest whether State-owned or private and whether wooded or maintined as a potential forest land. Section 5 empowers the Government to declare for a specified period reserved forest etc. Section 4 of the Act provides establishment and operation of Saw Mills and Saw Pits. The said section provides as under :

"4. Establishment and operation of saw mill and saw pit.

1) On and after the appointed day, no person shall establish or operate a saw mill or saw pit except under the authority and subject to the conditions of a licence granted under this Act :

Provided that no person shall establish or operate any saw mill or saw pit within a reserved forest, protected forest or any forest area within ten kilometers from the boundary of any such forest or forest area.

2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-s.(1) -

i) a saw mill or saw pit, established by the Orissa Forest Development Corporation Limited or by any other agency of the Government prior to the appointed day, may continue to be operated by such Corporation or agency, as the case may be, and in such a case, the Corporation or agency, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be licensee for the purposes of the Act;

ii) a saw mill or saw pit other than one referred to in Clause (i) and establishment prior to the appointed day may continue to be operated and shall be deemed to be a saw mill or saw pit, as the case may be, licensed under this Act :-

a) for a period of three months from the apponted day; or

b) if an application made in accordance with Section 6 for a licence is pending on the expiry of the period specified in Clause (a), till the disposal of such application under sub-s. (2) of S.7".