Point of Law : As per Guidelines, any Permit so issued is to remain valid for one calendar year or part thereof, and in no case, Permit shall remain valid beyond 31st December of a calendar year.

ORDER :

Heard Mr. K.P. Pathak, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. J.U.N.M. Laskar, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. D. Gogoi, learned Standing Counsel, Forest & Environment Department for the respondent nos. 1 – 5; and Mr. A.K. Azad, learned counsel appearing for Tikalpar Gaon Panchayat.

2. The case projected by the petitioner in this writ petition instituted under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, in brief, is that : desirous to set up a Stone Crusher Unit in the name and style of ‘M/s Bholanath Stone Crusher’ on a plot of land, covered by Dag no. 31, 43, 86 & 71 R.S. Patta no. 4, situated in Village – Shiberbond, Udharbond Revenue Circle, District – Cachar [‘the subject-plot’, for short], the petitioner submitted an application in the prescribed form before the respondent authorities in the Forest & Environment Department on 07.12.2020 to grant him such permission.

3. A set of Guidelines for installation of a stone crushing machine [Stone Crusher] within the State are in place in the form of a Notification bearing no. FRM.152/2001/54 dated 29.01.2003, issued by the Forest Department, Government of Assam. As per the Notification, no Stone Crusher unit can be installed in the State without obtaining a Permit from the State Government in the Forest Department. It has been stipulated therein that if a person wants to install a Stone Crusher, he is required to submit an application to that effect before the jurisdictional Divisional Forest Officer [DFO] as per the prescribed format accompanied by the documents listed in the Notification and the prescribed application fee of Rs. 3,000/-. On receipt of the application, the DFO is required to cause field verification and thereafter, to forward the application to the jurisdictional Conservator of Forests along with his comments. At the Circle level, a Permit Committee is constituted with the following as members – [i] the Conservator of Forests : Chairman; [ii] the Divisional Forest Officer [DFO] of concerned Division : Member; [iii] the District Industries Officer : Member; [iv] a Representative from Pollution Control Board : Member; and [v] a Representative of the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned District : Member. The function of the Permit Committee is to examine the applications received from the DFO within the Circle and take a decision accordingly. On being approved by the Permit Committee at the Circle level for issuance of a Permit, the Conservator of Forests is to intimate the concerned DFO and the concerned DFO is authorized to issue a Permit accordingly. The Permit Committee is also empowered to consider the cases for renewal of the Permits issued earlier. Applications for renewal of Permit are to be submitted by the interested parties to the DFO as per the prescribed format by paying requisite fee by treasury challan. As per the Guidelines, any Permit so issued is to remain valid for one calendar year or part thereof, and in no case, the Permit shall remain valid beyond 31st December of a calendar year.

4. It transpires that in the case in hand, the Circle Level Permit Committee, Southern Assam Circle after scrutiny and consideration of the application of the petitioner in its Meeting, held on 17.10.2022, accepted the petitioner’s application for installation of Stone Crusher, subject to fulfillment of certain conditions. On receipt of the Minutes of the Permit Committee communicated vide letter bearing no. FGS.39/Crusher/06/C/Par-II dated 28.10.2022, the DFO, Cachar, Silchar conveyed the decision to the petitioner about the acceptance of his application for issuance of the Permit for installation of a Stone Crusher Machine at the subject-plot. On the basis of such decision of the Permit Committee, the DFO, Cachar Division, Silchar [the respondent no. 4] issued the Permit for installation of the Stone Crusher Unit vide letter no. B/7[ii]/7826-27 dated 09.11.2022, subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein. It was specifically mentioned in th