2004 Supreme(SC) 1606

Supreme Court Of India
Y.K. SABHARWAL AND D.M. DHARMADHIKARI, JJ.
GOA FOUNDATION (1) - Petitioner
Versus
UNION OF INDIA- Respondent
Writ Petition (C) No. 460 of 2004, Decided on December 17, 2004
Advocates appeared
Raj Panjwani and Ms Purnima Bhat, Advocates, for the Petitioner;
A. Sharan, Additional Solicitor General (Vikas Sharma and Anil Katiyar, Advocates). for the Respondent.

Headnote:A. Environment - Mining lease - Renewal of - Applicants claim that the general rule that any non-forest activity must not be allowed within a distance of 1 km from the sanctuary/forest area may not be rigidly applied so far as the State of Goa is concerned and in that State the projects should be examined on site-specific basis - Forest Advisory Committee directed to examine the matter - Report be made available to the Court by the next date of hearing - National Board for Wildlife to submit its report to Forest Advisory Committee - Forest Advisory Committee will examine the report of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (which is not unanimous) - Will also advert to the question as to how far mining activities undertaken by the applicants in the past might have had any adverse effect on the wildlife and whether or not it has breached the groundwater level in the area and gone below it and its likely consequences on the environment/wildlife.

       [Paras 1 and 3]

       B. Environment - Forest Land – User as non forest purpose - Applicant Company has in its possession 26 acres of land on which its factory is standing – Apart from 26 acres of land on which its factory is standing about 3.185 acres of land bearing Khasra Nos. 1506, 1512 and 1556 in Village Anandpur is forest land - Seeks permission to convert it to non-forest area and subject it to non-forest use - Matter may be considered by MoEF within three months subject to payment of NPV and fulfilment of other conditions as imposed by CEC - IA is disposed of accordingly.

       [Para 5]

       C. Environment - Forests - Applicant seeks permission for construction of Lukung-Phobrang-Chartese Pt. 4433 Road – Proposed road passing through the Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary - Seeks permission for removal of unidentified 1052 trees of spontaneous growth in the forest areas of Nedunganur Forest and M.R. Palayam Forest for the proposed four-laning from 121 km to 325 km from Trichy to Tindivanam of NH 45 - CEC has examined the project the subject, its feasibility and importance - Made certain recommendations - Acceptable to the applicant - Subject to the fulfilment of the conditions/recommendations as laid down by CEC, the project is cleared.

       [Paras 12 and 13]