JUDGMENT - F.I. REBELLO, J.:---Petitioners 1 and 2 are Societies registered under the Societies Registration Act. Petitioner No. 2 is also an environmental society. Members of both the petitioners are nationals and citizens of India. The objects of the petitioner No. 1, amongst others, are to halt the ecological degradation of environment and to formulate and implement programmes for the rehabilitation and development of the Goan environment and to restore an ecological balance. Members of both the petitioner societies as citizens of India have the fundamental duty to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and to have compassion for living creatures.

2. Respondent No. 1 granted to respondent No. 4 a lease of land bearing Survey No. 12 of village Potrem in Sanguem Taluka for the purpose of erecting a beneficiation plant and purposes related therewith. Petitioners pleaded that a rich forest lies on the said plot. Respondent No. 2 is responsible for the conservation of the forest wealth in Goa State particularly the conservation of the ecologically fragile areas in which the lease falls. Respondent No. 3 is the authority which issues

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