ORDER

1. Leave granted. Heard.

2. The first Respondent was the holder of a mining lease (No. 593/993) for the period 6.7.1965 to 5.7.1985 under registered lease dated 6.7.1965 in respect of an area of 80.94 hectares in Survey No. 35 (Part) of Tanigehalli and Survey No. 107 (Part) of Hirekandawadi villages, Holalkere Taluk, Chitradurga District, Karnataka. The first Respondent filed an application for renewing the mining lease, on 22.6.1984, without seeking clearance under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The application for renewal was rejected on 30.9.1996. However subsequently by two notifications dated 23.8.2007, the State Government accorded sanction for the first renewal of the mining lease retrospectively for a period of twenty years (from 5.7.1985 to 4.7.2005) and for the second renewal for another period of twenty years (from 5.7.2005 to 4.7.2025) subject to clearance under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and environment clearance under Environment Protection Act, 1986. But the said renewals have not been granted as the first Respondent did not obtain the required clearances. In fact, the proposals submitted by the first Respondent, for obtaining forest clearance were returned several times for not submitting a complete proposal. In view of it, the first Respondent alleges that mining activity has been carried on by the first Respondent in the mining lease area, after 5.7.1985.

3. The first Respondent produced before the Director, Mines & Geology, State of Karnataka, an alleged permission letter dated 14.2.2008 purportedly issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, (for short 'MoEF') Government of India, addressed to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Karnataka according permission to the first Respondent for lifting up to one lakh Tonnes of old waste dumped in the leased area, made up of natural soil erosions and waste thrown by neighboring mining lessees. On routine verification about the genuineness of the said communication, the MoEF informed the Secretary (Forests) , Government of Karnataka, that the said letter dated 14.2.2008 was a fake letter and directed the state government to initiate criminal action against the first Respondent and others responsible for the same. The first Respondent subsequently admitted that the letter dated 14.2.2008 was not genuine. According to the first Respondent, one Irfan Shaikh representing himself to be a clerk working at MoEF, had represented to the first Respondent that he would be able to get any clearance from MoEF; that the first Respondent explained its case to him; that the said Irfan Shaikh thereafter provided the said letter dated 14.2.2008 authorising lifting the old waste dumps; and that believing the said letter to be a genuine letter issued by MoEF, the first Respondent had furnished it to the Director, Department of Mines and Geology, State of Karnataka. The first Respondent submitted that once it came to know that the letter was a fake, it neither relied on it nor used it.

4. The first Respondent filed IA Nos. 2419 and 2420 of 2008 in WP (C) No. 202 of 1995 (T N Godavaraman Thirumulpad v. Union of India) in this Court, seeking permission to intervene and seeking direction for grant of approval of its proposal for diversion of 80.94 Hectares of forest land, for non-forest mining activity under the Forests (Conservation) Act and permission to lift 75000 MT of iron ore and 25000 MT of Manganese ore which had been previously mined and lying in the dump area of the mine. In the said applications, the Petitioner averred as under:

That in the mine in question, around 75000 MT of iron ore and 25000 MT of manganese which were previously mined and stored in the dump area are lying there (material mined before 1980) . The Appellant prays that it may be permitted to lift the same from the dump and sell it.

The first Respondent also offered to pay the NPV for the said forest area of 80.94 Hectare, as also the amount to be paid for ca