Kerala High Court
M/S Trissur Sand And Gravel(Pvt) Ltd vs The Ministry Of Environment on 23 January, 2020
Author: Amit Rawal
Bench: Amit Rawal
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT RAWAL
THURSDAY, THE 23RD DAY OF JANUARY 2020 / 3RD MAGHA, 1941
WP(C).No.1411 OF 2020(B)
PETITIONER/S:
M/S TRISSUR SAND AND GRAVEL(PVT) LTD.
PANDIPARAMBU, VELLANIKARA P.O, MANNUTHY, THRISSUR
DISTRICT-680 654, REPRESENTED BY ITS MANAGING
DIRECTOR, JOSE JOHN.
BY ADV. SRI.PHILIP J.VETTICKATTU
RESPONDENT/S:
1 THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT
FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE, JORBAGH ROAD,
NEW HELHI-110 003, REP BY ITS SECRETARY.
2 NATIONAL BOARD FOR WILD LIFE,
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE,
JORBAGH ROAD, NEW DELHI-110 003,
REPRESENTED BY ITS MEMBER SECRETARY.
3 THE DIRECTOR OF MINING AND GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT,
GOVERNMENT OF KERALA, KESAVADASAPURAM,
PATTOM P.O.THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN-695 001.
4 THE GEOLOGIST,
DEPARTMENT OF MINING AND GEOLOGY, DISTRICT OFFICE,
THRISSUR-680001.
5 STATE LEVEL ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY
(SEIAA KERALA),
REPRESENTED BY ITS DIRECTOR, DIRECTORATE OF
ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE, PALLIMUKKU,
PETTAH P.O.TRIVANDRUM-695 024.
6 STATE OF KERALA,
REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY, FOREST DEPARTMENT,
SECRETARIAT, TRIVANDRUM-695 001.
7 STATE OF KERALA,
REPRESENTED BY THE PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, INDUSTRIES
(A) DEPARTMENT, SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN-
695 001.
WP(C).No.1411 OF 2020(B) 2
8 STATE OF KERALA,
REPRESENTED BY THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,
SECRETARIAT, TRIVANDRUM-695 001.
R1-2 BY ADV. SMT.M.S.KIRAN, CGC
OTHER PRESENT:
GP SRI MANURAJ KJ SRI MP SREEKRISHNAN SC
THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
23.01.2020, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
WP(C).No.1411 OF 2020(B) 3
JUDGMENT
Dated this the 23rd day of January 2020 The petitioner has approached this Court challenging Ext.P4 stop memo dated 31.08.2019 issued by the 4th respondent, calling upon the petitioner to obtain the Clearance from the Standing Committee for National Board for Wild Life. Similar kind of memos of prior date were challenged in this Court in various other writ petitions No.28014/2019 and other connected petitions and vide order dated 18.12.2019, this Court issued certain directions. The directions contained therein were issued in terms of the interim orders as well as judgments rendered by the Supreme Court in Goa Foundation v. Union of India [(2011) 15 Supreme Court Cases 793] as well as Goa Foundation v. Union of India and others [(2014) 6 supreme Court cases 590] and the case of the petitioner is also falling within the aforementioned parameters. Accordingly, I dispose of the writ petition with similar directions as contained in the judgment of this Court WP(C).No.1411 OF 2020(B) 4 cited supra, which is as under:-
"a) Since the petitioner asserts that he is in possession of a mining lease prior to 18.05.2012 and therefore, not being obligated to obtain an Environmental clearance, the Government is directed to open a file in his name containing all other relevant documents, including the Mining Lease; and forward it to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change-recording therein that the petitioner has not obtained an Environmental Clearance for this reason-within fifteen days from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment. If, for any reason, any other germane documents are found wanting, the Government will be at liberty to ask the petitioner to make available all such before the Secretary, Environment Department, so that there will be no delay in forwarding the same by the Government within the period granted above without seeking further extension of time.
b) The Government of Kerala will forthwith and within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment forward the Environmental Clearances, along with all other necessary papers, to the MoEF. If, for any reason, the necessary papers are found wanting, the Government will be at liberty to seek such from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), who will make the same available without any delay. I also leave liberty to the petitioner to make available his papers before the competent authority of the Government, which is stated to be the Secretary, Environment Department, for such purpose. I make it WP(C).No.1411 OF 2020(B) 5 clear that the intent of this Court is that there shall be no delay in forwarding the papers and that the Government will be obligated to do so within the period granted herein, without seeking any further extension of time.
c) On the files as ordered above reaching the MoEF, they will be obligated to place it before the Standing Committee within a period of one week from the date on which it is received, so as to enable the said authority to take a decision in terms of the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court.
d) The Standing Committee, on receiving the files as per the afore directions, will immediately process the files and make their recommendations, as per the interim order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Goa Foundation ((2011) 15 SCC 793) and this shall be done not later than two months from the date on which they receive the files from the MoEF.
e) The afore directions having been issued, I must also clarify that the stop memos issued by the Geologists will remain in force only during the period that I have fixed above and if there is any delay by any authority, be that the Government of Kerala or the MoEF or the Standing Committee, in complying with the afore directions, on the expiry of the cumulative period mentioned above, the said memos issued by the Geologists will become inoperative and the petitioner will, thereupon, be entitled to commence his activities as per the Environmental Clearances and the Mining Leases obtained by him. Needless to say, if, during the WP(C).No.1411 OF 2020(B) 6 aforementioned period, the final notification is issued by the MoEF under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 with respect to the Eco Sensitive Zones in Kerala, the interdiction as ordered above will stand vacated from that date and the petitioner will be entitled to operate his quarries depending upon the said notification and as per the stipulations therein.
f) By way of a further clarification, I order that the afore directions and the operation of the stop memos will be only with respect to the petitioner's quarrying activities and that the operation of the stone crusher units, if any, as long as they are done in compliance with all necessary imperative and statutory conditions and as long as the raw material for the same is from other sources and not from the quarries in question, will not be covered by him, thereby to mean that he can continue to operate them, notwithstanding the stop memos issued by the Geologists, subject to further orders to be issued by the Standing Committee."
Sd/-
AMIT RAWAL
sab JUDGE
WP(C).No.1411 OF 2020(B) 7
APPENDIX
PETITIONER'S/S EXHIBITS:
EXHIBIT P1 TRUE COPY OF RELEVANT PAGES OF THE
QUARRYING LEASE EXECUTED IN RESPECT OF THE QUARRY OF THE PETITIONER DATED 20.4.2018 EXHIBIT P2 TRUE COPY OF RELEVANT PAGES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE ISSUED BY THE COMPETENT AUTHORITY DATED 17.1.2018 EXHIBIT P3 TRUE COPY OF LICENSE FOR THE PERIOD 1.4.2019 TO 31.3.2020 WITH RESPECT TO THE CRUSHER UNIT OF THE PETITIONER ISSUED BY THE MADAKKATHARA GRAMA PANCHAYAT AND ITS TRANSLATION EXHIBIT P4 TRUE COPY OF NOTICE DATED 31.8.2019 ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR MINING AND GEOLOGY AND ITS ENGLISH TRANSLATION EXHIBIT P5 TRUE COPY OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT EVIDENCING SUCCESSFUL UPLOADING OF APPLICATION FOR PRIOR APPROVAL DOWNLOADED FROM THE WEB SITE OF THE PORTAL OF THE 1ST RESPONDENT DATED 18.11.2015 EXHIBIT P6 TRUE COPY OF OFFICE MEMORANDUM DATED 8.8.2019, REFERRED TO IN EXT P4 EXHIBIT P7 TRUE COPY OF NOTIFICATION DATED 3.3.2016 PUBLISHING DRAFT NOTIFICATION WITH RESPECT TO PEECHI-VAZHANI WILD LIFE SANCTUARY EXHIBIT P8 TRUE COPY OF THE PROPOSAL OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT TO FIX THE DISTANCE CRITERIA AS I KM RADIUS FROM THE BOUNDARY OF NATIONAL PARK AND WILD LIFE SANCTUARIES