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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
A. K. Patnaik, Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, JJ.
B.S. Sandhu – Appellant
Versus
Government of India & Ors. – Respondents
CIVIL APPEAL NOs. 4682-4683 OF 2005 WITH CIVIL APPEAL NOs. 4799-4800 OF 2005 AND CIVIL APPEAL NO. 4798 OF 2005
Decided On : 21-05-2014
(1997) 2 SC 267 – Referred
(b) Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 – Section 2 – Status of the area in question as forest area – Needed to be decided under section as on 25.10.1980 – Instead the area declared forest area on the basis of closure u/s 3 of PLP Act, 1990 – Not correct – Impugned order set aside. (Para 16, 17)
(2004)12 SCC; JT 2008 (6) SC 542 – Referred
Facts of the case:
CWP No. 1134 of 2004
High Court of Punjab and Haryana suo motu entertained the PIL pursuant to a news item published on 22.01.2004 in the Hindustan Times 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 the Supreme 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 and was a ‘forest area’, which attracted the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, but the Punjab Government permitted change of land use as a quid pro quo because a large number of top IAS and IPS officers and other decision-makers have been given honorary membership of the club or have been allowed to use the premises and facilities of the Club for private functions.
CWP No. 1850 of 2004
The case made out in the writ petition filed by one Ranjeet Singh was that Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was applicable to any land in the Karoran village and, therefore, the land could not have been diverted for non-forest activities without the prior permission of the Central Government.
The High Court held that the entire land of village Karoran which has been notified under Section 3 of the PLP Act, 1900 and is regulated by the prohibitory directions notified under Sections 4 and 5 of the aforesaid PLP Act, 1900 is ‘forest land’ and attracts the provisions of Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 if sought to be used for ‘non-forest purpose’. The High Court also held that in the records of the Forest Department of the Government of Punjab, the entire land of village Karoran was shown to be ‘forest land’ and the entries in the revenue record regarding the nature of the land were changed by the officers of the Revenue Department of the Government of Punjab at the behest of Col. B.S. Sandhu for the obvious reason that he was eyeing this big chunk of land for his personal gains. The High Court, therefore, discarded the latest entries of the revenue record and instead accepted the records of the Forest Department to hold that the land in question was ‘forest land’.
Finding of the Court:
Impugned order cannot be sustained.
Result: Impugned order set aside.
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 attracted the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, but the Punjab Government permitted change of land use as a quid pro quo because a large number of top IAS and IPS officers and other decision-makers have been given honorary membership of the club or have been allowed to use the premises and facilities of the Club for private functions.
3. CWP No. 1850 of 2004 was filed by one Ranjeet Singh as a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. In the writ petition, it was inter-alia stated that village Karoran is located in Kharar Tehsil of District Ropar and is about eight kilometers to the North-west of Chandigarh and the entire area of the village measuring about 3700 acres is covered under PLP Act, 1900, and this area measuring about 3700 acres of village Karoran is also shown as ‘forest area’ in the Annual Administration Report and the Register of Forest Area of the forest department. It is further stated in the writ petition that pursuant to the order dated 12.12.1996 passed by this Court in T.N.Godavarman Thirumulkpad v. Union of India & Ors. (1997) 2 SC 267, an Expert Committee was set up by the Government of Punjab to identify the forest areas of the State of Punjab, and this Expert Committee included the entire area of Karoran village as forest area in its report, and accordingly an affidavit was filed on behalf of the State Government in March, 1997 in this Court, showing the entire area of Karoran village as part of the forest areas of the State of Punjab. It is also stated in the writ petition that the entire area of Karoran village was included as forest area in the management plan prepared by the State Forest Department and the management plan was approved by the Ministry of Environment and Forest vide its letter dated 14.12.1998. The case made out in the writ petition was that Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was applicable to any land in the Karoran village and, therefore, the land could not have been diverted for non-forest activities without the prior permission of the Central Government.
4. Col. B.S. Sandhu, who was the proprietor/Managing Director of the Forest Hill Golf and Country Club, contended before the High Court that merely because village Karoran is covered under the PLP Act 1900, the lands comprising the area of village Karoran do not become ‘forest land’. He further contended that the lands in village Karoran on which the Forest Hill Golf and Country Club has been constructed were private lands acquired by sale deeds by the Dashmesh Educational Society formed by him for a period of eight years from different owners and some of the lands are agricultural lands and some of the lands are uncultivable waste lands (Gair Mumkin Pahar) and unless a formal notification was issued under Section
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