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2015 Supreme(SC) 1472
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Before :- H.L. CJI, Arun Mishra and Adarsh Kumar Goel, JJ.
T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad - Petitioner
Versus
Union of India and others - Respondents
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Nos.3799-3801 of 2014 in W.P.(C) No.202 of 1995, 314: I.A. Nos.3875-3876 in W.P.(C) No.202 of 1995, 315: I.A. Nos.3889-3890 in W.P.(C) No.202 of 1995, 316: I.A. Nos.3912-3913 in W.P.(C) No.202 of 1995, 317: I.A. Nos.3914-3915 in W.P.(C) No.202 of 1995, 318: I.A. Nos.3859-3860 in W.P.(C) No.202 of 1995
Decided On : 05-10-2015
For the Petitioners:Amicus Curaie, Mr. H.N. Salve, Sr. Advocate, Mr. K.K. Venugopal, Sr. Advocate, Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Advocate, Mr. Siddhartha Choudhury, Advocate, Ms. Aparijita Singh, Advocate.
For the Respondents:Mr. Vijay Panjwani, Advocate, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR, Mr. Jesal Wahi, Advocate, Ms. Vinakshi Kadan, Advocate, Mr. S.S. Shamshery, AAG, Mr. Amit Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Ishu Prayash, Advocate, Ms. Ruchi Kohli, AOR, Ms. Kirti R. Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Anil B. Divan, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Ashok Kumar Parija, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal, Advocate, Mr. Keshav Mohan, Advocate, Mr. Anil Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Sujit Keshri, Advocate, Mr. S.W.A. Qadri, Advocate, Mr. M.P. Gupta, Advocate, Mr.Mukul Singh, Advocate, Mr. A. Deb Kumar, Advocate, Ms. Jyoti Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Kaushal Yadav, Advocate, Mr. Shailender Saini, Advocate, Mr. Avinash Sharma, Advocate, Mr. D.S. Mahra, Advocate, Mr. Sandeep Narain, Advocate, for S. Narain & Co. Mr. S.S. Nehra, Advocate, Mr. Neeraj Dutt Gaur, Advocate, Mr. H.P. Rawal, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Monish Panda, Advocate, Mr. Praveen Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Rohit Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Sudhindu, Advocate, Ms. Ekta Bhasin, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Mathur, Advocate, Mr. Vanita Bhargava, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Bhargava, Advocate, Mr. Ankur Khandewal, Advocate, Mr. Jeevan B. Panda, Advocate for Khaitan & Co. AOR, Mr. Sanjay Kr. Visen, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR, Mr. Anil Grover, AAG, Mr. Sanjay Kr. Visen, AOR, Ms. Aruna Gupta, Advocate, Ms. Nandini Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, AAG, Mr. Utakarsh Jaiswal, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, Advocate, Mr. Arvind Kumar Shukla, Advocate, Mr. Nihal Ahmad, Advocate, Mr. Alok Shukla, Advocate, Ms. Shilpi Dey, Advocate, Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sol. Genl. of India, Ms. Vartika Sahay, Advocate, Mr. Aditya Agarwal, Advocate, Mr. Navnit Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Riku Sarma, Advocate, M/s Corporate Law Group, Mr. Aviral Saxena, Advocate, Ms. Rachana Srivastava, AOR, Mr. C.D. Singh, Advocate, Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, Advocate, Mr. Ranjit Kumar, SG, Mr. W.A. Qadari, Advocate, Mr. Jyoti Kumar Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Mukul Singh, Advocate, Mr. Kaushal Yadav, Advocate, for Central Agency, U.O.I., Mr. W.A. Quadri, Advocate, Mr. A. Deb Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Shailender Saini, Advocate, Mr. Avinash Sharma, Advocate, Mr. D.S. Mahara, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Upadhayay, Advocate, Mr. Salik Shafique, Advocate, Ms. Divya Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Kanika Sharma, Advocate, for Ms. Lalitha Kaushik, AOR, Mr. V.K. Shukla, Advocate, Ms. Anchal Mehrotra, Advocate, Mr. Nischal Kr. Neeraj, Advocate, Mr. Alok Sangwan, AAG, Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, Advocate, Mr. Jatin Zaveri, AOR, Mr. Anup Jain, AOR, Mr. Abhishek Baid, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek K. Baid, Advocate, Mr. Anup Jain, Advocate, Mr. S.K. Verma, AOR, Mr. B. Vinodh Kanna, AOR, Mr. O. Purshotam, Advocate, Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, AOR, Mr. T. Gopal, Advocate, Mr. Hemendra Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Pawan Kr. Saini, Advocate, Mr. Pawan Kr. Saini, Advocate, Ms. Madhuriam Ghosh, Advocate, Mr. M.S. Vishnu Sankar, Advocate, Ms. Usha Nandini V., AOR, Mr. N. Ramachandran, Advocate, Mr. Neeraj Jha, Advocate, Mr. Rana Ranjit Singh, AOR, Mr. Sidharth Shanker, Advocate, Mr. Vivek K. Singh, Advocate, Mr. K.L. Janjani, Advocate, Dr. M.S. Kachawa, Advocate, Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Lokander Singh Kachawa, Advocate, Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, Advocate, Ms. Bihu Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Purnima Krishna, Advocate, Mr. Ranjit Kuamr, SG Col., R. Balasubramanium, Advocate, Mr. S. Saini, Advocate, Mr. Santosh Kumar, Advocate, Mr. R.K. Verma, Advocate, Mr. B.V. Balramdas, Advocate, Mr. Avinash Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Rekha Pandey, Advocate, Mr. R.S. Nagar, Advocate, Ms. Sadhna Sandhu, Advocate, Mr. C.D. Singh, Advocate, Mr. Sumit Goel, Advocate, Mr. K. Raj, Advocate, M/s Parekh & Co. Mr. Balasubramaniam, Advocate, Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Advocate, Mrs. G. Indira, AOR, Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Vivek Singh, Advocate, Mr. L.R. Singh, Advocate, Ms. Deepika Kaha, Advocate, Mr. Kapish Seth, Advocate, Mr. Praneet Pranav, Advocate, Mr. B.V. Balramdas, AOR, Mr. Bhavani Shankar V. Gadnis, Advocate, Mr. A.V. Bala, Advocate, Mr. K. Shubhada Phaltankar, Advocate, Mr. Niskant R. Katneshwarkar, Advocate, Mr. Ajay Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Vibhu Shankar Mishra, Advocate, Mr. M. Khairale, Advocate, Mr. Avinash Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Haris Beeran, Adv. Mr. P.K. Manohar, Advocate, Mr. Sapam Biswajit Meitei, Advocate, Mr. Z.H. Isaac Haiding, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Kr. Singh, Advocate, Mr. S. Vijayanand Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Z.H. Isaac Haiding, Advocate, Mr. B. Kitushbansi, Advocate, Mr. Rana Ranjit Singh, Advocate, Mr. Sidharth Shankar, Advocate, Mr. Vivek Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Sandeep D. Das, Advocate, Mr. Parmanand Gaur, Advocate, Mr. Pratap Venugopal, Advocate, Ms. Supriya Jain, Advocate, Ms. Niharika, Advocate, for M/S. K.J. John & Co., Advocates, Ms. Bina Madhavan, Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Kr. Singh, Advocate, Ms. Rani Chhabra, Advocate, Mr. Alok Shukla, Advocate, Mr. Manoj Kr. Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Vivek Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Choudhary, Advocate, Mr. Sharif Ahmad, applicant in person, Mr. Sridhar Potaraju, Advocate, Mr. G. Gangmei, Advocate, Mr. Arjun Singh, Advocate, Mr. Mukunda Rao, Advocate, Mr. C.D. Singh, Advocate, Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Advocate, Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, Advocate, Ms. Punam Kumari, Advocate, Dr. Kailash Chand, Advocate, Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, Advocate, Mr. Bhavani Shankar V. Gadnis, Advocate, Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, Advocate, Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, AAG, Mr. Abhishek Choudhary, Advocate, Mr. Utkarsh Jaiswal, Advocate, Mr. Jatin Zaveri, Advocate, Ms. Shilpa Chouhan, Advocate, Mr. Jitendra Chaudhary, Advocate, Mr. Rajesh Singh, Advocate, Dr. S.K. Verma, Advocate, Mr. G.S. Mani, Advocate, Mr. R. Sathish, Advocate, Mr. Subaramonium Prasad, Sr. Advocate, Mr. B. Balaji, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh Kr. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. M.K. Subaramonium, Advocate, Mr. V. Balaji, Advocate, Mr. Prashanth K., Advocate, Msm. Asai Thambi, Advocate, Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. C.N. Sreekumar, Advocate, Mr. Amit Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Vivek Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Naveen Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Mishra Saurabh, Advocate, M/S. Vidhi International Mr. S.S. Nehra, Advocate, Mr. Bijan Ghosh, Advocate, Mr. Alok Shukla, Advocate, Mr. Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Manoj Kr. Mishra, Advocate, Ms. Usha Nandini V., Advocate, Mr. S. Gowthaman, Advocate, Mr. Surya Kant, Advocate, Mr. Kshitiz Karjee, Advocate, Mr. Nishant R. Katneshwarkar, Advocate, Mr. Arpit Rai, Advocate, Mr. Anup Jain, Advocate, Mr. E.M.S. Anam, Advocate, Mr. Manish Pitale, Advocate, Mr. Wasi Haider, Advocate, Mr. Chander Shekhar Ashri, Advocate, Mr. Shekhar Naphade, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Gagan Sanghi, Advocate, Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, Advocate, Mr. Aniruddha P. Mayee, Advocate, Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain, Advocate, Mr. Akarsh Garg, Advocate, Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. P. Parmeswaran, Advocate, Mr. P. Ramesh Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Advocate, Ms. Prerna Mehta, Advocate, Ms. Pratibha Jain, Advocate(NP), Mr. Sunil Fernandes, Advocate, Ms. Mithu Jain, Advocate, Ms. Astha Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. Salik Shafique, Advocate, for Ms. Lalitha Kaushik, Advocate, Ms. Anitha Shenoy, Advocate, Mr. Sanjeeb Panigrahi, Advocate, Mr. Alok Pathak, Advocate, Mr. Nischal Kr. Neeraj, Advocate, Mr. E.C. Agrawala, Advocate, Dr. (Mrs.) Vipin Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Navnit Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Riku Sarma, Advocate, M/S. Corporate Law Group Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, Advocate, Mr. S.S. Shamshery, Advocate, Mr. Amit Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Sandeep Singh, Advocate, Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Advocate, Mr. R. Basant, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Sachin Patil, Advocate, Mr. M.L. Lahoty, Advocate, Mr. Paban K. Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Roshmi Chaterjee, Advocate, Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, Advocate, Mr. A.P. Sahay, Advocate, Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, Advocate, Mr. Deepak Gupta, Advocate, Mr. S.N. Jha, Sr. Advocate, Mr. A.P. Sahay, Advocate, Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, Advocate, Mr. Deepak Gupta, Advocate, Mr. T. Mahipal, Advocate, Mr. Anil Shrivastav, Advocate, Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Advocate, Mr. M.L. Lahoty, Advocate, Mr. Paban K. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, Advocate, Mr. Sridhar Potaraju, Advocate, Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, Advocate, Mr. Rohit Shukla, Advocate, Mr. Arjun Singh, Advocate, Mr. Mukunda Rao, Advocate, Ms. Kaveeta Wadia, Advocate, Mr. Shashank Tipathi, Advocate, Ms. Bina Madhavan, Advocate, Mr. Wasim Qadri, Advocate, Mr. M.P. Gupta, Advocate, Mr. M. Khairati, Advocate, Mr. Arvind Kumar Shukla, Advocate, Mr. Alok Shukla, Advocate, Mr. Nihal Ahmad, Advocate, Mr. Amit Shukla, Advocate, Mr. Sanjay Visen, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, Advocate, Mr. Gopal Singh, Advocate, Mr. Manish Kumar, Advocate, Mr. S.R. Singh, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Ankur Yadav, Advocate, Mr. Ujjawal Pandey, Advocate, Ms. Vandita Rai, Advocate, for Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra, Advocate, Mr. Manish Pitale, Advocate, Mr. Wasi Haider, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Baid, Advocate, Mr. Anup Jain, Advocate, Mr. S.K. Verma, Advocate, Mr. S.R. Singh, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Anurag Tomar, Advocate, Mr. Ujjwal Pandey, Advocate, Mr. Yashpal Dhingra, Advocate, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Advocate, Ms. Jesal Wahi, Advocate, Ms. Vinakshi Kadan, Advocate, Ms. Rachana Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Kanika Singh, Advocate, Mr. Abhisth Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Som Raj Choudhury, Advocate, Mr. M.S. Vishnu Sankar, Advocate, Ms. Usha Nandini, Advocate, Ms. Rani Chhabra, Advocate, Ms. Priyanka Sony, Advocate, Gp. Capt. Karan Singh Bhati, Advocate, Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, Advocate, Mr. T. Gopal, Advocate, Mr. Dillip Kr. Nayak, Advocate, Mr. Adarsh K. Tiwari, Advocate, Mr. Hemendra Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Anip Sachthey, Advocate, Ms. Shagun Matta, Advocate, Mr. Diya Jyoti Jaipuriar, Advocate, Ms. Aparna Bhat, Advocate, Mr. Abhinay for M/S. Parekh & Co., Advocates, Mr. Sumit Goel, Advocate, Ms. Anubha Gupta, Advocate, for M/s. Parekh & Co., Advocate, Mr. Salman Khurshid, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Imtiaz Ahmed, Advocate, Ms. Naghma Imtiaz, Advocate, for M/S. Equity Lex Associates, Mr. Prashant Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Joseph Pookkatt, Advocate, Mr. Vaibhav Srivastava, Advocate, for M/s. A.P. & J Chambers, Advocates, Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Vivek Singh, Advocate, Ms. Deepeika Kalia, Advocate, Mr. Kapish Seth, Advocate, Mr. L.R. Singh, Advocate, Mr. S.S. Shamshery, Advocate, Mr. Amit Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Sandeep Singh, Advocate, Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Advocate, Mr. Anil Shrivastav, Advocate, Mr. Ritu Raj Biswas, Advocate, Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, Advocate, Mr. Edward Belho, Advocate, Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Atul Jha, Advocate, Mr. Sandeep Jha, Advocate, Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, Advocate, Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Gopal Prasad, Advocate, Mr. Aviral Saxena, Advocate, Ms. Rachana Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. M. Srinivas R. Rao, Advocate, Mr. Arun Devdas, Advocate, Mr. Manish Pitale, Advocate, Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, Advocate, Mr. S. Wasim A. Qadri, Advocate, Mr. M.P. Gupta, Advocate, Mr. M. Khairati, Advocate, Mr. Zaid Ali, Advocate, Mr. S. Chopra, Advocate, Mr. S.R. Singh, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Avnish Singh, Advocate, Mr. Ujjawal Pandey, Advocate, Mr. Mukesh Verma, Advocate, Mr. Pawan Kumar Shukla, Advocate, Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra, Advocate, Ms. Rachana Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Kanika Singh, Advocate, Mr. Anip Sachthey, Advocate, Ms. Shagun Matta, Advocate, Mr. Himinder Lal, Advocate, Ms. Rajni Ohri Lal, Advocate, Mr. S. Wasim A. Qadri, Advocate, Mr. M.P. Gupta, Advocate, Mr. M. Khairati, Advocate, Mr. Zaid Ali, Advocate, Mr. Saurabh Chopra, Advocate, Mr. R. Balasubramanian, Advocate, Mr. K. Subba Rao, Advocate, Mr. M. Khairati, Advocate, Mr. Vishnu Shanker Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Avinash Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Bhakti Vardhan Singh, Adv., Mr. D.S. Mahra, Advocate, Mr. Subramanian Prasad, Sr. Advocate, AAG, Mr. B. Balaji, Advocate, Mr. R. Rakesh Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Dhruv Mehta, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Yashraj Singh Deora, Advocate, Ms. Shreya Agrawal, Advocate, Mr. Ninad Laud, Advocate, Mr. Jayant Mohan, Advocate, Mr. Sumit Goel, Advocate, Mr. Nitin Thukral, Advocate, Ms. Anubha Gupta, Advocate, for M/S. Parekh & Co., Mr. Chander Uday Singh, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Pratap Venugopal, Advocate, Mr. Surekha Raman, Advocate, Ms. Niharika, Advocate, Mr. Anuj Sarma, Advocate, for M/S. K.J. John & Co., Advocates, Mr. Gopal Singh, Advocate, Mr. Manish Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Advocate, Ms. Rashmi Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Siddharth Bhatnagar, Advocate, Mr. Sidharth Mohan, Advocate, Mr. Rahul Arya, Advocate, Mr. T. Mahipal, Advocate, Mr. Wasim Qadri, Advocate, Mr. M.P. Gupta, Advocate, Mr. M. Khairati, Advocate, Mr. D.S. Mahra, Advocate, Mr. Anip Sachthey, Advocate, Ms. Shagun Matta, Advocate, Mr. S.B. Upadhyay, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Pawan Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. Saravjit Pratap Singh, Advocate, Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, Advocate, Ms. Rachana Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, Advocate, Ms. Kanika Singh, Advocate, Mr. Wasim Qadri, Advocate, Mr. M.P. Gupta, Advocate, Mr. M. Khairati, Advocate, Mr. D.S. Mahra, Advocate, Mr. S. Uday Kumar Sagar, Advocate, Ms. Bina Madhavan, Advocate, Ms. Praseena E. Joseph, Advocate, Mr. Mrityunjai Singh, Advocate, For M/S. Lawyers Knit & Co., Advocates. Ms. Vibha Dutta Makhija, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Ajay Kumar Singh, Advocate, Ms. Sunita Sharma, Advocate, Mr. D.S. Mahra, Advocate, Mr. Chander Uday Singh, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Sumit Goel, Advocate, Mr. Kshatrashal Raj Advocate, for M/S. Parekh & Co., Advocates, Mr. Vikas Bansal, Advocate, Mr. Aishwarya Pathak, Advocate, Mr. Ardhendumauli Kr. Prasad, Advocate, Mr. Pradeep Rai, Advocate, Mr. Arjun Garg, Advocate, for M/s. Parekh & Co., Advs. Mr. Pawan Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. Saravjit Pratap Singh, Advocate, Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. Piyush Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, Advocate, for Dr. Prafulla Hegde Mr. Bhavanishankar V. Gadnis, Advocate, Mines Mr. Venayagam Balan, Advocate, Mr. Pragyan Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Shikhar Garg, Advocate, Mr. P.V. Yogeswaran, Advocate, Mr. Jayant Bhushan, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, Advocate, Mr. Karanveer Jindal, Advocate, Ms. Pragati Neekhra, Advocate, Mr. Nishant R. Katneshwarkar, Advocate, Mr. Arpit Rai, Advocate, Mr. Suryanarayana Singh, AAG, Ms. Pragati Neekhra, Advocate, Mr. V.G. Pragasam, Advocate, Mr. Prabu Ramasubramanian, Advocate, Mr. K.L. Janjani, Advocate, Mr. M.S. Kachawa, Advocate, Mr. Pankaj Kr. Singh, Advocate, Ms. Aruna Mathur, Advocate, Mr. Avnessh Arputham, Advocate, Mr. Yusuf Khan, Advocate, Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Advocate, for M/s. Arputham, Aruna & Co., Advocates, Mr. Sidharth Bhatnagar, Advocate, Mr. Sidharth Mohan, Advocate, Mr. Rahul Arya, Advocate, Mr. T. Mahipal, Advocate, Mr. S.S. Javali, Sr. Advocate, Mr. P.R. Ramesh, Advocate, Mr. Azeem A. Kalebudde, Advocate, Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, Advocate, Mr. Abhinav Malik, Advocate, Ms. A. Subhashini, Advocate, Mr. M. Srinivas R. Rao, Advocate, Mr. K. Parmeshwar, Advocate, Mr. Arun Devdas, Advocate, Mr. Vijay Panjwani, Advocate, Ms. K.V. Bharti Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. Aruneshwar Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Mehta, Advocate, Mr. G. Prakash, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Mathur, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Kumar Juneja, Advocate, Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, Advocate, Mr. Chand Qureshi, Advocate, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, Advocate, Ms. Sumita Hazarika, Advocate, Mr. Rajeev Kumar Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Ajit Pudussery, Advocate, Mr. K.R. Sasiprabhu, Advocate, Mr. Vishwajit Singh, Advocate, Mr. D.N. Goburdhun, Advocate, Ms. Rachna Joshi Issar, Advocate, Mr. Ashok K. Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Shankar Divate, Advocate, Mr. Pallav Sishodia, Sr. Advocate, Ms. Aruna Gupta, Advocate, Ms. Nandini Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Ravindra K. Adsure, Advocate, Mr. Rajesh Prasad Singh, Advocate, Mr. A. Subba Rao, Advocate, Mr. Annam D.N. Rao, Advocate, Mr. Rajesh Srivastava, Advocate, Mr. Anil Kr. Jha, Advocate, Mr. B.S. Banthia, Advocate, Mr. Shail Kr. Dwivedi, Advocate, Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. V.K. Sidharthan, Advocate, Mr. Rajesh Singh, Advocate, Mr. Jagji Singh Chhabra, Advocate, Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Pramod Dayal, Advocate, Mr. Shakil Ahmed Syed, Advocate, Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, Advocate, Ms. D. Bharathi Reddy, Advocate, Ms. K.V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, Advocate, Mr. R. Venkataramani, Sr. Advocate, Mr. G.N. Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Yashraj Bundela, Advocate, Mr. Rajeev Sharma, Advocate, Mr. G. Ramakrishna Prasad, Advocate, Mr. B. Suyodhan, Advocate, Mohd. Wasay Khan, Advocate, Ms. Filza Moonis, Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Mehta, Advocate, Mr. Ramesh Babu, M.R., Advocate, Mr. Mohan Prasad Meharia, Advocate, Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Advocate, Mr. T.C. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. R. Ayyam Perumal, Advocate, Mr. Jatinder Kr. Bhatia, Advocate, Mr. M.L. Lahoti, Applicant in person, Mrs. S. Usha Reddy, Advocate, Mr. Abhijat P. Medh, Advocate, M/s. Mitter & Mitter & Co., Advocates, Mr. Parijat Sinha, Advocate, Ms. Reshmi Rea Sinha, Advocate, Mr. S.C. Ghosh, Advocate, Mr. Gourav Ghosh, Advocate, Mr. Somnath Banerjee, Advocate, Ms. Madhu Sikri, Advocate, Mr. harish Pandey, Advocate, Mr. P.S. Sudheer, Advocate, Mr. Mohan Pandey, Advocate, Mr. Shiv Kumar Suri, Advocate, M/s. J.S. Wad & Co., Advocates, Mr. Mohit Abraham, Advocate, Mr. Yashraj Singh Deora, Advocate, Mr.Jayant Mohan, Advocate, Mr. V. Balachandran, Advocate, Mr. Vijay Kumar, Advocate, Mr. K. Rajeev, Advocate, Mr. Badri Prasad Singh, Advocate, Mr. Ambhoj Kr. Sinha, Advocate, Mr. Devashish Bharuka, Advocate, Mr. Harshvardhan Jha, Advocate, Ms. Yugandhara Jha, Advocate, Mr. Kunal Verma, Advocate, Mr. M.P. Jha, Advocate(NP), Mr. Nikhil Nayyar, Advocate, Mr. Pawan Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. Sarvjit Pratap Singh, Advocate, MS. Sharmila Upadhyay, Advocate, Mr. S.K. Sinha, Advocate, Mr. Manish Kumar Saran, Advocate, Mr. T.N. Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Advocate, Ms. Asha G. Nair, Advocate, Mr. Vimal Chandra Dave, Advocate, Mr. T. Harish Kumar, Advocate, Mr. Sanjeeb Panigrahi, Advocate, Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Hari Shanker K., Advocate, Ms. Aruna Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Nitin Kr. Thakur, Advocate, Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, Advocate, Ms. Sudha Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Chanchal Kr. Ganguly, Advocate, Mr. Ranbir Yadav, Advocate, M/s. Karanjawala & Co., Advocates, Mr. Prakash Kr. Singh, Advocate, Dr.(Mrs.) Monika Gosain, Advocate, Mr. Jayant Bhushan, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Karamveer Jindal, Advocate, Mr. Varinder Kr. Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Ashok Mathur, Advocate, Ms. Nupur Choudhary, Advocate, Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Advocate, Mr. C.D. Singh, Advocate, Mr. Snehasish Mukherjee, Advocate, Mr. Alok Pathak, Advocate, Mr. S.R. Singh, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Anurag Tomar, Advocate.
Headnote:
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 – Forest (Conservation) Act, 1989 – Section 16 – Environmental Laws – Amicus has classified the matters pending before the Green Bench under different heads such as : (i) matters relating to wood based industries, (ii) matters relating to National Parks/Wildlife sanctuaries, (iii) matters relating to exemptions from the payment of the NPV etc.etc. – Held, 3894-3896/2015 Exempt the applicant from payment of NPV of Rs. 327.60 lakhs for use of the forest land at Javandhu Hills, Kavalur, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu, which is being demanded by the Tamil Nadu Forest department and direct the Tamil Nadu forest department to refund the amount of Rs. 50 lakhs already paid to it by the applicant and stay the recovery of NPV from the applicant pursuant to the demand letter dated 15.06.2015 issued by the Tamil Nadu forest department to the applicant – Order Accordingly
ORDER :
On our request, Shri Harish Salve, the learned amicus curaie has given us a brief note on the matters pending before the Green Bench in different categories. He has also made certain suggestions for early disposal of those matters. He has exchanged the aforesaid note with Shri Ranjit Kumar, the learned Solicitor General of India, who represents the Union of India, Shri K.K. Venugopal, learned senior counsel, who appears for some of the parties.
2. The learned amicus has classified the matters pending before the Green Bench under different heads such as : (i) matters relating to wood based industries, (ii) matters relating to National Parks/Wildlife sanctuaries, (iii) matters relating to exemptions from the payment of the NPV etc.etc.
3. We intend to take up the First Category, viz. Matters relating to Wood based industries.
CATEGORY I - MATTERS RELATING TO WOOD BASED INDUSTRIES:
4. We have heard Shri Harish Salve, learned amicus curiae, Shri Ranjit Kumar, learned Solicitor General of India, Shri K.K. Venugopal, learned senior counsel and other learned senior counsel/ counsels. Accordingly, we pass the following orders :
(i) The State Level Committees for Wood-Based Industries ("SLCs") are, subject to the compliance of the prescribed guidelines and procedure, authorised to take decisions regarding the grant of license/permission to the wood-based industries;
(ii) In each State/UT for which the SLC has so far not been constituted, the SLC under the Chairmanship of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests with a representative of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change ("MoEFCC") and an officer of the State Forest Department/Industries Department not below the rank of the Chief Conservator of Forests/ equivalent rank will immediately be constituted;
(iii) The MoEF is authorised to issue appropriate guidelines in conformation with the orders and directions issued by this Court and also the existing guidelines to the SLCs relating to assessment of timber availability for wood-based industries and grant of license/permission to the wood-based industries including addition of new machineries and also utilisation of amounts recovered from the wood-based industries and connected matters;
(iv) Any person aggrieved by the decision taken by the SLC may file an appeal before the MoEFCC seeking appropriate relief within 60 days' time. If, for any reason, any person is aggrieved by the orders so passed in the appeal, he may prefer an appropriate petition/application/appeal before the appropriate forum/Court for grant of appropriate relief(s).
5. We also permit the MoEFCC to condone the delay, if any, in filing an appeal, if sufficient cause is made out by the applicant(s)/appellant(s).
6. The amounts lying with the respective State Forest Departments (recovered from wood based industries) will be utilised for the purpose of afforestation only.
7. The respective State Forest Departments will intimate the amount(s) spent by them for afforestation purpose to MoEFCC at the earliest.
8. With the aforesaid observations and directions, we dispose of the Interlocutory Applications/matters specified in Annexure-I to the note supplied by Shri Harish Salve, learned amicus curiae.
II. MATTERS RELATING TO NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES:
9. Now we come to matters relating to National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
10. At the time of hearing on the aforesaid subject, certain suggestions are made by the learned amicus curiae and other senior counsels. By incorporating them, we pass the following order(s):
All matters for grant of permissions for implementation of projects in areas falling in National parks/sanctuaries, including rationalisation of boundaries etc. will be considered by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife ("NBWL") on its own merits and in conformity with the orders and directions passed by this Court from time to time, i.e. on 14.02.2000, 16.12.2002, 13.11.2000, 9.5.2002, 25.11.2005 and 14.09.2007 an
