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2023 Supreme(SC) 1862

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.R. GAVAI, VIKRAM NATH, JJ.
In Re : T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad – Appellant
Versus
Union Of India And Ors. & Ors. – Respondents
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 202 Of 1995 with C.A. No(s). 9206 of 2022
Decided On : 24-03-2023

Advocates Appeared:
For the Applicants : Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Sr. Adv. (A.C.), Mr. K. Parameshwar, Adv. (A.C.), Ms. Arti Gupta, Adv., Ms. Kanti, Adv., Ms. Aditi Tripathi, AOR, Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv., Mr. Vishnu Thulasi Menon, Adv., Mr. Chand Qureshi, AOR, Ms. Vibha Datta Makhija, Sr. Adv., Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv., Mr. Vishnu Thulasi Menon, Adv., Mr. Surender Singh Hooda, AOR, Mr. Karan Mamgain, Adv., Mr. Baani Khanna, Adv., Mr. Praveen Gour, Adv., Mr. Roy Abraham, Adv., Ms. Reena Roy, Adv., Ms. Seema Jain, Adv., Mr. Akhil Abraham Roy, Adv., Mr. Yaudhinder Lal, Adv., Mr. Himinder Lal, Adv., Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR, M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR, Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR, Mr. Mohd Parvez Dabas, Adv., Mr. Uzmi Jamil Husain, Adv., Mr. Tashriq Ahmad, Adv., Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR, M/S. Mitter & Mitter Co., AOR, Ms. Dimple Upadhaya, Adv., Mr. Narayana Kumar Relangi, Adv., M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR.
For the Respondents: Mr. Balbir Singh, A.S.G., Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv., Mr. Naman Tandon, Adv., Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv., Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv., Mr. Samarvir Singh, Adv., Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR, Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv., Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv., Mr. S. S. Rebello, Adv., Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv., Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv., Mr. Sughosh Subramanyam, Adv., Dr. Arun Kumar Yadav, Adv., Mr. Amrish Kumar, Adv., Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR, Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR, Shri. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR, Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR, Mr. C. L. Sahu, AOR, Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR, Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR, Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR, Mr. S. R. Setia, AOR, Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR, Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR, Mr. T. V. George, AOR, Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR, Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR, Dr. Sumit Kumar, Adv., Mr. Keshav Baheti, Adv., Mr. Ashutosh Thakur, Adv., Mr. Chandra Pratap, Adv., Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR, Mr. E. M. S. Anam, AOR, Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR, Mr. Vikas Kumar Singh, Adv., Mr. Vikram Singh, Adv., Dr. Sham Chand, Adv., Ms. Rajshree Singh, Adv., Mr. T. N. Singh, AOR, Mr. Punit Dutt Tyagi, AOR, Mr. Rathin Das, AOR, Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR, Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR, Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR, Mr. B V Deepak, AOR, Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR, Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR, Mr. A. N. Arora, AOR, Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR, Mr. G. Prakash, AOR, Mr. Rauf Rahim, AOR, Mrs. Rekha Pandey, AOR, Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR, Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, AOR, Ms. Malini Poduval, AOR, Ms. C. K. Sucharita, AOR, Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR, Mr. Mohd. Irshad Hanif, AOR, Ms. Rifat Ara Butt, Adv., Ms. Pinky, Adv., Mr. K. L. Janjani, AOR, Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR, Ms. A. Sumathi, AOR, Mr. Jai Prakash Pandey, AOR, Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR, Mr. Pradeep Kumar Bakshi, AOR, Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR, Ms. Riya Sethi, Adv., Ms. Divya Roy, AOR, Mr. Tarun Johri, AOR, Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR, Mr. Ram Swarup Sharma, AOR, Mr. Firasat Ali Siddiqi, Adv., Mr. Vijay Pal, Adv., Mr. Shiv Kumar Golwalkar, Adv., Mr. Deepankar, Adv., Mr. Mahendra Kumar, Adv., Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv., Mr. Umang Tripathi, Adv., Mr. Karunesh Kumar Shukla, Adv., Mr. Parashu Ram Mandal, Adv., Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR, M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR, M/S. K J John And Co, AOR, Mr. Pratap Venugopal, Adv., Ms. Surekha Raman, Adv., Mr. Akhil Abraham Roy, Adv., Mr. Abhishek Anand, Adv., Mr. V. Balachandran, AOR, Mr. S. C. Birla, AOR, Mr. P. R. Ramasesh, AOR, Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR, Mr. Umesh Bhagwat, AOR, Mrs. M. Qamaruddin, AOR, Mr. H. S. Parihar, AOR, Ms. Baby Krishnan, AOR, Ms. Bina Madhavan, AOR, Mr. K. V. Vijayakumar, AOR, Mr. P. N. Gupta, AOR, Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR, Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR, Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR, Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR, Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR, Mr. Rajat Joseph, AOR, Mr. Hrishikesh Chitaley, Adv., Mr. Vijay Kari Singh, Adv., Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR, Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR, Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR, Ms. Madhu Moolchandani, AOR, Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR, Ms. S. Janani, AOR, M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR, Mrs. Nandini Gore, AOR, Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, AOR, M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR, Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR, Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR, Mr. Mohan Prasad Gupta, Adv., Mr. Manoranjan Paikaray, Adv., Mr. Aniruddha Purushotham, Adv., Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR, Mr. Surya Kant, AOR, Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR, Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, AOR, Ms. Pratibha Jain, AOR, Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR, Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR, Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR, Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR, Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR, Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR, Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR, Mr. Sudarsh Menon, AOR, Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR, Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR, Mr. Shiva Pujan Singh, AOR, Mr. Rajesh Singh, AOR, Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR, Mr. M. C. Dhingra, AOR, Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR, Mr. Rajesh, AOR, M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR, Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR, Mr. Sunil Otwani, Adv., Mr. Sanchit Guru, Adv., Mr. parth Shekhar, Adv., Mr. Jamnesh Kumar, Adv., Mr. Subham Singh, Adv., Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR, Mrs. Manik Karanjawala, AOR, Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR, Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR, Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv. (NP), Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR, Mr. Ashok Basoya, Adv., Mr. Arpit Prakash, Adv., Ms. Anzu. K. Varkey, AOR, Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR, Mr. Siddharth Bhatnagar, Sr. Adv., Mr. M. R. Shamshad, AOR, Mr. Sarojanand Jha, Adv., Ms. Rajreeta Ghosh, Adv., Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR, Mr. Tapan Masta, Adv., Mr. Karan Thakur, Adv., Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR, Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR, Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR, Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Adv., Mr. Vyom Raghuvanshi, Adv., Ms. Eisha Krishan, Adv., Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, Adv., Ms. Gitanjali Sanyal, Adv., M/S. V. Maheshwari & Co., AOR, Mr. Vinod Kumar Soni, Adv., Mr. Sahshi Ranjan, Adv., Mr. Pawan Kumar Sharma, Adv., M/S. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Aor, AOR, Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR, Mr. Anup Kumar Rattan, Sr. Adv. (A.G.), Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, A.A.G., Mr. Akshay C. Shrivastava, Adv., Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv., Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Adv., Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR, Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR, Ms. Adarsh Nain, AOR, Mr. Kumar Anurag Singh, Adv., Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR, Mrs. Tulika Mukherjee, Adv., Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv., Mr. Siddhartha Jha, AOR, Mr. A. Karthik, AOR, Mr. Arsh Khan, Adv., Ms. Smrithi Suresh, Adv., Ms. Neeta Sanjay Savale, Adv., Ms. Sreepriya K, Adv., Ms. Seita Vaidyalingam, AOR, M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR, Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR, Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR, Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv., Nishanth Patil, AOR, Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR, Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., AOR, Mr. Shobhit Dwivedi, Adv., Ms. Vaidehi Rastogi, Adv., Mrs. Garima Prashad, Sr. Adv., Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR, Ms. Kanishka Mittal, Adv., Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR, Ms. Rachna Ghandhi, Adv., Mr. Abhishek Chaterjee, Adv., Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR, Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR, Mr. V.k.shukla, Sr. Adv., Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv., Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv., Ms. Priya Gaur, Adv., Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR, Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR, Mr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, AOR, Mr. K.m.nataraj, A.S.G., Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR, Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv., Mr. Mukesh Kr.verma, Adv., Mr. Neeraj Kr.sharma, Adv., Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv., Mr. (d) Harish Pandey, Adv., Dr. N. Visakamurthy, Adv., Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR, Ms. Ankita Choudhary, D.A.G., Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR, Mr. Abhinav Shrivastava, Adv., Mr. Shivang Rawat, Adv., Ms. Radhika Jalan, Adv., Ms. Radhika Jalan, Adv., Mr. Shivang Rawat, Adv., , Mr. Jaideep Gupta, Sr. Adv., Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR, Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv., Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv., Ms. Manicka Priya, Adv., , Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR, , Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR, , Mr. P. K. Manohar, AOR, , Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR, Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv., , Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, AOR, Mr. Vaibhav Sabharwal, Adv., Mr. Akshay Kumar, Adv., , Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR, Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR, , Mrs. Niranjana Singh, AOR, Mr. Saket Singh, Adv., , Mr. Dhaval Mehrotra, AOR, Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR, , Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR, Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR, Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, AOR, , Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR, Mr. Vishal Banshal, Adv., , Mr. Aravindh S., AOR, Ms. Uma Bhuvaneshwari. C, Adv., , M/S. D.s.k. Legal, AOR, Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR, , Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR, Mrs. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv., , Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv., Mr. Arpit Parkash, Adv., Ms. Shubhangi Agarwal, Adv., Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR, , Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, AOR, , Mr. Nikhil Goel, A.A.G., Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR, Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta, Adv., Mr. Adithya Roy, Adv., , Mr. Balbir Singh, A.S.G., Ms. Suhashni Sen, Adv., Mr. Naman Tandon, Adv., Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv., Mr. Samarvir Singh, Adv., Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv., Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR, Mr. T.S. Sabarish, Adv., Mr. Santhosh Krishnan, Adv., Ms. Deepshikha Sansanwal, Adv., Mr. Vishal Prasad, AOR, Mr. Siddharath Dharmadhikari, Adv., Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, AOR, Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv., Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv., Mr. Nishant Awana, Adv., Ms. Rini Badoni, Adv., Mr. Niteen Kumar Sinha, AOR.

The court emphasized that environmental protection must take precedence in decision-making for tree felling applications, requiring adherence to statutory clearances and rigorous mitigation measures.

Headnote:(A) Forest Conservation Act, 1980 - Jammu and Kashmir Non-Forest Land Khair Trees 'Acacia Catechu' (Management Plan) Rules, 2016 - Applications for felling of trees delayed - Revenue authorities ordered to undertake a fresh survey and consider applications afresh. (Para 6)

(B) Environmental protection - The Court emphasized the need for statutory clearances and strict adherence to mitigation measures, highlighting the importance of preserving forest areas. (Paras 7 & 10)

(C) Central Empowered Committee (CEC) management - The Court stated that any dissenting opinions from CEC members should be presented along with reports, reinforcing accountability within the committee. (Para 13)

Facts of the case:
Applications for felling trees were delayed by the District Forest Officer due to the flawed publication of guidelines. The applicants sought permission to remove trees for national highway expansion.

Findings of Court:
The applications were allowed subject to obtaining all necessary statutory clearances and adherence to proposed mitigation measures.

Issues: The main issue was whether the applications for felling could be considered despite procedural delays in approval.

Ratio Decidendi: The Court directed that applications be considered afresh, reiterating that environmental protection must take precedence, and underlined the need for clear statutory processes in decision-making.

Result: Applications for tree felling allowed, subject to clearances.

Table of Content
1. order for fresh survey and report (Para 1 , 2 , 7)
2. delay in processing tree felling applications (Para 3 , 4 , 5)
3. need for younger experts in cec (Para 6 , 14 , 15)
4. statutory clearances required for constructions (Para 8 , 9 , 10)
5. role of the cec in court decisions (Para 12)

ORDER :

I.A. Nos. 52897-98 of 2021 and I.A. No. 61361 of 2021

1. The application for impleadment is allowed.

2. By way of these applications, the applicant(s) seek following prayer:

    (b) direct the Competent Authority/respondents appointed under the “the Jammu and Kashmir Non-Forest Land Khair Trees ‘Acacia Catechu’ (Management Plan) Rules, 2016-SRO-111 of 2016 to grant permission for felling of trees-in accordance with law.

3. It is the grievance of the applicant that though the applicant(s) had applied for permission to fell the Khair trees and their applications were duly recommended by the revenue authorities, there was delay in forwarding the same to the District Forest Officer (in short “DFO”), on account of such delay, the DFO has not granted them permission.

4. Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, learned counsel for the State submits that vide Management Plan dated 26.04.2016 and Rules notified vide notification/SRO-111 dated 31.03.2016, which were issued in pursuance to the order passed by this Court dated 16.09.2013, a specific time-frame was fixed during which the applications were to be made. He submits that admittedly the applications made by the applicant(s) were not made within the prescribed time.

5. He, however, fairly concedes that since the time-frame was being framed for the first time, there was no proper publication of the said guidelines.

6. Taking into consideration the peculiar facts and circumstances of the matter, we find that it will be appropriate that the applications be considered afresh.

7. We, therefore, direct the revenue authorities to make a fresh survey and submit their report to the DFO within a period of four weeks from today.

8. On such a report being submitted, the DFO, DRC Division shall take a decision with regard to grant of permission to the applicant(s) for felling of Khair trees.

9. We clarify that we are not observing anything on the merits of the matter and the concerned authority would consider the application(s) made by each applicant, on their own merits.

10. The applications are disposed of accordingly.

I.A. No. 87648 of 2020 alongwith CEC Report No. 15/2023 in I.A. No. 3840/14 (disposed of) and I.A. Nos. 132905 of 2022 in I.A. No. 2370 of 2007 (disposed of)

As prayed, list these applications on 10.05.2023.

I.A. Nos. 31095, 31104 and 31118 of 2019 with I.A. Nos. 59646 of 2021, 43308 of 2022

In view of letter circulated by Mr. Shamshad, learned counsel for the applicant(s) seeking adjournment for filing affidavit, list this matter after four weeks.

I.A. Nos. 196062 and 174896 of 2019 alongwith CEC Report No. 11/2023

1. Vide order dated 24.02.2023, we have considered I.A. No.196062 & 174896/2019 filed by the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir

2. After hearing learned counsel for the parties, we have passed the following order:

    “I.A. NO.196062 & 174896/2019 (ITEM NO.3) Application for impleadment (I.A. NO.196062) is allowed. I.A. No.174896/2019 is filed with the following prayer:-

    “Allow the present Application and permit the Applicant to construct a Convention Centre at Patnitop after demolishing the existing dilapidated Club Building of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC).” The application is allowed, subject to obtaining clearances from the Statutory Authorities concerned.”

3. After the order was passed, the Central Empowered Committee [in short “CEC”] has submitted its report on the present matter on 13.03.2023.

4. In the report, the CEC has stated that it is not in favour of permitting construction of Convention Centre at the proposed site. It has also proposed that Patnitop Development Authority may look for an alternative site outside forest area.

5. Mr. A.D.N. Rao, learned Amicus Curiae

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