In a PIL, Green Action Force sought to declare 170 acres of industrial land in Ambalamugal as ecologically fragile under the Kerala Forest Act, 2003, and restrain tree felling. The Court held that industrial land with natural trees does not qualify as ecologically fragile land and dismissed the petition.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
W.P.(C) No. 29114/2019
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR.S.MANIKUMAR
&
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHAJI P.CHALY
THURSDAY, THE 10TH DAY OF MARCH 2022 / 19TH PHALGUNA, 1943
WP(C) NO. 29114 OF 2019
PETITIONER/S:
GREEN ACTION FORCE, REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY, SHIBU MANUEL, THAIPARAMBIL, DOOR NO.393, UDYOGAMANDAL, ELOOR SOUTH, ERNAKULAM- 683 501.
BY ADVS. A.X.VARGHESE SRI.A.V.JOJO
RESPONDENT/S:
BY ADVS.
SRI. S. MANU, ASSISTANT SOLICITOR GENERAL GOVERNMENT PLEADER
W.P.(C) No. 29114/2019 : 2 :
R5 BY SRI.M.GOPIKRISHNAN NAMBIAR SRI.K.JOHN MATHAI SRI.JOSON MANAVALAN SRI.KURYAN THOMAS SRI.PAULOSE C. ABRAHAM
SRI.NAGARAJ NARAYANAN, SPL. GOVERNMENT PLEADER
THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 10.03.2022, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
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Dated this the 10th day of March, 2022.
JUDGMENT
SHAJI P. CHALY, J.
This is a Public Interest Litigation filed by an organization, namely Green Action Force, seeking a direction to respondent Nos. 2 and 3 i.e., State of Kerala, represented by its Secretary and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Social Forest Department, Forest Headquarters, Thiruvananthapuram, to take necessary action to declare 170 acres of forest land situated at Ambalamugal belonging to the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., the 5th respondent, as ecologically fragile land under Section 4 of the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act, 2003 (‘Act, 2003’ for short).
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1 to 4 ought to have noted the fact that the Act, 2003 was formulated to provide for vesting in the Government as ecologically fragile lands and for the management of such lands with a view to maintain ecological balance and conserving the biodiversity. It is also contended that under Section 3 of the Act, 2003, the ownership and possession of all ecologically fragile lands held by any person or any other form of right over them shall stand transferred to and vested in the Government free from all encumbrances and the right, title and interest of the owner over any other persons thereon shall stand extinguished from the date of coming into force of the Act.
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refuting the allegations made in the writ petition. It is also submitted that the petitioner is an unregistered organization to maintain a writ petition. That apart, it is submitted that Ext. R5(b) order dated 10.02.2010 was passed by the Government of Kerala formulating guidelines for regulation on felling and destruction of the trees grown at lands at the disposal of the Government. But, according to the 5th respondent, a conscious decision was taken by the Government to cut and remove the trees situated within the industrial area in order to start a prestigious polyols Petrochemical project with an estimated cost of Rs.11,130/- crores and the foundation stone of the project was laid by the Prime Minister of India during January, 2019.
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submissions are also made justifying the action of the 5th respondent in taking a decision to expand its industrial activities as specified above. Among other things, it is submitted that requisite sanction has been obtained from the State Government before cutting the trees and nearly 4000 trees out of a total of approximately 4300 trees have already been cut and removed. Apart from the above, it is submitted that the land in question is situated in an industrial area and there is no reserve forest anywhere nearby. Further, the contention put forth
by the petitioner that the land is forest land vested with the Government as per Section 3 of Act, 2003, cannot be sustained under law, it is submitted.
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operative societies, semi autonomous institutions etc. under the Department.
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(ii) any land declared to be an ecologically fragile land by the Government by notification in the Gazette under section 4;
to mean any land principally covered with naturally grown trees and undergrowth and includes any forest statutorily recognized and declared as reserved forest, protected forest or otherwise, but does not include any land which is used principally for the cultivation of crops of long duration such as tea, coffee, rubber, pepper, cardamom, coconut, arecanut or cashew or any other sites of residential buildings and surroundings essential for the convenient use of such buildings.
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that cannot be said to be an ecologically fragile land to have vested with the Government under Section 3 or to declare the land in question as an ecologically fragile land under Section 4 of the Act, 2003. It is also an admitted fact that the 5th respondent has cut and removed the trees numbering about 4000 in order to expand its industrial activities and admittedly the project was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India way back in the year 2019.
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part of the respondents in not preventing the 5th respondent from cutting and removing the trees situated in the property of the 5th respondent, which is an industrial area, and since the trees were cut and removed after securing necessary orders from the statutory authorities and in contemplation of law.
Needless to say, the writ petition fails and accordingly, it is dismissed.
sd/-
S. MANIKUMAR, CHIEF JUSTICE.
sd/- SHAJI P. CHALY,
JUDGE.
Rv
W.P.(C) No. 29114/2019 : 11 :
APPENDIX OF WP(C) 29114/2019
PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS:
EXHIBIT P1 TRUE COPY OF THE PAPER REPORT COMES IN HINDU DAILY DATED 26.09.2019.
EXHIBIT P2 TRUE COPY OF THE REPRESENTATION GIVEN TO THE RESPONDENTS DATED 04.10.2019. EXHIBIT P3 TRUE COPY OF THE G.O(RT)NO. 172/2010/F & WLD DATED 21/4/2010. EXHIBIT P4 TRUE COPY OF THE REPORT SUBMITTED BY DR.C.M.JOY DATED 5p/7/2019 WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION. EXHIBIT P5 TRUE COPY OF THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT CARD. EXHIBIT P6 PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWING THE FORESTED LAND IN QUESTION SITUATED AT AMBALAMUGAL. EXHIBIT P7 TRUE COPY OF THE APPLICATION DATED 2/11/2019 UNDER R.T.I.ACT.
RESPONDENTS' EXHIBITS:
EXHIBIT R5(a) TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 02.09.1986 BEARING NO. G.O(P) NO.85/86/FE & WLD ISSUED BY THE GOVT.OF KERALA. EXHIBIT R5(b) TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 10.02.2010 BEARING NO. G.O(RT) NO.68/2010/F & WLD ISSUED BY THE GOVT. OF KERALA. EXHIBIT R5(c) TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 28.04.2006 BEARING NO. G.O(MS) NO. 48/2006/ID ISSUED BY THE GOVT. OF KERALA. EXHIBIT R5(d) TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 20.08.2019 BEARING NO.E3-2782/19 ISSUED BY THE GOVT. OF KERALA. EXHIBIT R4(a) TRUE COPY OF THE GO NO.(Rt) 68/2010 DATED 10.02.2010. EXHIBIT R4(b) TRUE COPY OF THE G.O.(Rt.) 139/2011/id DATED 27.01.2011. TYPED COPY OF G.O.(Rt.) NO. 139/2011/ID DATED 27.01.2011
/True Copy/
3 issues framed by the court
Whether industrial land containing trees vests in the Government under Section 3 of the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act, 2003.
Whether the petitioners are entitled to declare the industrial land as ecologically fragile forest land under Section 4 of the Act, 2003.
Whether the permission granted to cut trees in the industrial area was arbitrary or illegal.
7 provisions across 2 enactments
GREEN ACTION FORCE
UNION OF INDIA
STATE OF KERALA
THE PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FOREST
THE DIVISIONAL FOREST OFFICER
BHARATH PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD.
S.MANIKUMAR
SHAJI P.CHALY
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
