Per Sujit Narayan Prasad, J.

1. The writ petition is under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of following reliefs :-

“(i) For issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction, declaring that the Management Plan for Sustainable Mining in Saranda and Chaibasa of Singhbhum District, Jharkhand (Annexure-5), published by the Respondent no. 1 in the year 2018 does not have force of law and can otherwise not be made applicable to mining activities in non-forest areas;

(ii) Upon such declaration, for issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction particularly a writ of or in the nature of certiorari, quashing ana setting aside the letter bearing no. 461 dated 24.03.2023 (Annexure-4), issued under the signature of respondent no.4 by which the application of petitioner for grant of Environment Clearance has been rejected;

(iii) For issuance of a further appropriate writ, order or direction particularly a writ of or in the nature of mandamus, commanding upon the respondent no.4 to forthwith grant Environment Clearance to the petitioner for operating his mines for which he has been granted a Letter of Intent dated 15.09.2022 upon submission of a fresh application; and

(iv) For any other relief or reliefs for which the petitioner is legally entitled in the facts and circumstances of the case.”

Factual Matrix

2. The brief facts of the case as per the pleading made in the writ petition, which are required to be enumerated, read as under :-

It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner, a proprietorship firm, upon participating in auction for grant of mining lease for stone, after following the due process prescribed in law and having declared as the preferred bidder, has been issued with a Letter of Intent (LoI) bearing no. Kha.Ni (Nilami)-22/2022-1952/M dated 15.09.2022, for grant of Mining lease over an area of 4 Acres in Gundijora Stone Block situated in District West Singhbhum (Jharkhand), and has complied with all the conditions of such LoI.

3. As a prerequisite for execution of Mining Lease deed and initiation of mining operations, the petitioner submitted a proposal for grant of Environment Clearance before the respondent no.4 vide proposal no. SIA/JH/MIN/413198/2023.

4. The Mining Plan in respect of the aforesaid mines was also approved by the competent authority vide letter no. G/2022-23-296 dated 14.10.2022.

5. The mining lease of the petitioner is situated within village Gundijora which is indisputably a revenue village having no forest cover/growth and does not have any chunk of land under the notified forest cover.

6. The application for grant of environment clearance was rejected by the respondent no.4 for the reason that the village in which the petitioner's mines is situated falls under 'No-Mining Zone' as per the Management Plan for Sustainable Mining (MPSM). The communication stating

the said reason and rejecting the proposal for grant of EC was issued vide letter no.461 dated 24.03.2023.

7. The respondent no.1 published the MPSM in the year 2018 pursuant to a study conducted by the ICFRE in connection with the Justice Shah Commission's report on illegal mining which has been published to propose a plan for sustainable operation of mines in Saranda and Chaibasa Forest Divisions complying the recommendations of Justice Shah Commission. The study conducted by the ICFRE, which forms the basis for the MPSM, was basically aimed at conservation and protection of forest and was particularly in relation with iron ore mining.

8. At page 32 of the report, serial no.245 of the table notes the name of the village in which the petitioner's mines are situated, identifies the same as a part of the Chaibasa Forest Division and as a Conservation Area/no mining area. The aforesaid identification of entire village Gundijora as a conservation area/no-mining zone itself is arbitrary and without any basis/justification.

9. The MPSM is otherwise a document/report based on a study by ICFRE which can, at best b