JUDGMENT

A. K. PATNAIK, J.

These Civil Appeals have been filed by way of special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution against the common order dated 12.10.2004 of the Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in CWP No. 1134 of 2004 and CWP No. 1850 of 2004.

Facts of the Case:

2. CWP No. 1134 of 2004 is a Public Interest Litigation entertained by the High Court suo motu pursuant to a news item published on 22.01.2004 in the Hindustan Times (‘HT Chandigarh Live’). This news item was titled ‘Forest Hill Club under Central Government Scanner’, and it stated that the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Union of India, has found that a Forest Hill Golf and Country Club in Village Karoran, District Ropar, near Chandigarh was being developed in blatant violation of the environmental and forest laws as well as the orders passed by this Court in December 1996. The news item further stated that the Forest Department of Government of Punjab had informed the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest that the entire area, on which the golf course had been set up, was closed under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900 (for short ‘PLP Act, 1900’) and was a ‘forest area’, which at