Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society v Union of India and others

## **IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM** ## **PRESENT** ## **THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT RAWAL** **TUESDAY, THE 04TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2020 / 15TH MAGHA, 1941** ## **WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020(I)** ## **PETITIONER:** **THE URALUNGAL LABOUR CONTRACT CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY MADAPPALLY COLLEGE.P.O., VATAKARA, KOZHIKODE DISTRICT, REPRESENTED BY ITS CHAIRMAN** **BY ADVS. SRI.M.SASINDRAN SRI.S.SHYAM KUMAR** ## **RESPONDENTS:** - **1 UNION OF INDIA, REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS, INDIRA PARYAVARAN BHAWAN, JORBAGH ROAD, NEW DELHI- 110003** - **2 STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL BOARD FOR WILDLIFE, NATIONAL BOARD FOR WILDLIFE, MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS, INDIRA PARYAVARAN BHAWAN, JORBAGH ROAD, NEW DELHI-110003** - **3 STATE OF KERALA REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF FORESTS AND WILDLIFE, GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695001** - **4 THE DIRECTOR OF MINING AND GEOLOGY, DIRECTORATE OF MINING AND GEOLOGY KESAVADASAPURAM, PATTOM PALACE.P.O., THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695004** - **5 PRINCIPAL CHIEF FOREST CONSERATOR(WILDLIFE) AND CHIEF WILDLIFE WARDEN, FOREST HEADQUARTERS, NANDAVANAM, VAZHUTHACAUD, THIRUVANANTHAURAM-695014** - **6 DISTRICT GEOLOGIST DISTRICT OFFICE, MINING AND GEOLOGY, CIVIL STATION, KOZHIKODE-673020** WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020 -2- **R1-2 BY ADV. SRI.B.PRAMOD** ## **OTHER PRESENT:** ## **SRI MANURAJ KJ GP** **THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 04.02.2020, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:** WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020 -3- ## **JUDGMENT** The petitioner has approached this Court challenging Ext.P7 stop memo dated 21.10.2019 issued by the 6th respondent, calling upon the petitioner to obtain the Clearance from the Standing Committee for National Board for Wild Life. The writ petition can be disposed in the light of the directions passed in W.P.(C) No.26431 of 2019 and other connected petitions (2020 (1) KLT 109). 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 WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020 -4- ## this Court 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), WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020 -5- 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 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 WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020 -6- 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 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 WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020 -7- 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 JUDGE** vv WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020 -8- ## **APPENDIX** ## **PETITIONER'S/S EXHIBITS:** **EXHIBIT P1 TRUE COPY OF THE QUARRYING LEASE DATED 08.05.2017 VALID TILL 07.05.2023 ISSUED TO THE PETITIONER** - **EXHIBIT P1 (A)** - **TRUE COPY OF THE CONSENT TO OPERATE ISSUED BY THE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD.** - **EXHIBIT P1(B)** - **TRUE COPY OF THE D AND O LICENSE NO.A3-1573/2019-20 DATED 01.04.2019** - **EXHIBIT P1(C) TRUE COPY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE NO.78/SELAA/KU/173/2013 ISSUED BY THE DEIAA DATED 07.04.2013** - **EXHIBIT P2 A TRUE COPY OF THE DRAFT NOTIFICATION DATED 31.12.2015** - **EXHIBIT P3 A COPY OF THE SCREEN-SHOT TAKEN FROM THE GOOGLE EARTH SOFTWARE SHOWING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE PROJECT SITE AND THE MALABAR WILDLIFE SANCTUARY** - **EXHIBIT P4 A TRUE COPY OF THE NOTIFICATION DATED 02.12.2009 ISSUED BY THE FIRST RESPONDENT** - **EXHIBIT P5 A TRUE COPY OF THE INTERIM ORDER DATED 11.12.2018 IN WP(C)NO.202/1995** - **EXHIBIT P6 TRUE COPY OF THE OFFICE MEMORANDUM DATED 08.08.2019 WITH F.NO.22-43/2018IA.III ISSUED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT** - **EXHIBIT P7 TRUE COPY OF THE NOTICE DATED 21.10.2019 ISSUED BY THE 6TH RESPONDENT** WP(C).No.2485 OF 2020 -9- |**EXHIBIT P8**|**TRUE COPY OF G.O.(K)NO.29/2019/FOREST**| |---|---| ||**DATED 31.10.2019 ISSUED BY THE 3RD**| ||**RESPONDENT**| |**EXHIBIT P9**|**TRUE COPY OF THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION**| ||**OF EXT.P7 ORDER.**| //TRUE COPY// PA TO JUDGE