COMPENDIUM OF SUMMARIES OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS IN ENVIRONMENT RELATED CASES

INDIA

India - Procedural Issues, Public Interest

RURAL LITIGATION AND ENTITLEMENT KENDERA v. STATE OF U.P.

AIR 1988 SC 2187
RANGANATHAN MISRA and MURARI MOHAN DUTT, JJ.

Introduction

The case arose when the Supreme Court directed a letter received from the petitioner alleging unauthorised and illegal mining in the Dehra Dun area which adversely affected the ecology of the region and caused environmental damage, to be registered as a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, and issued notice on the Respondents.

Legislative Framework

Constitution-Articles 32, 226.
Forest ( Conservation) Act, Section 2.

Held

Having considered several reports made by Committees of Experts appointed by the Supreme Court to examine the environmental implications of limestone mining in the Dehra Dun Valley, the Court, by order dated October 19, 1987, ordered that mining in the area should be stopped, except for three mines in respect of which the leases had not expired. Their operations too, were to be subject to additional conditions set by the Court. In providing reasons for its conclusion, the Court said, "The writ petitions before us are not inter-party disputes and have been raised by way of public interest litigation and the controversy before the Court is as to whether for social safety and for creating a hazardless environment for the people to live in, the mining in the area should be stopped or permitted." The Court remarked that the Doon Valley limestone is a gift of nature to mankind and that forests provide the green belt and are a bequest of the past generations to the present. It also remarked that the problem of forest preservation and protection was no more to be separated from the life style of the tribal people.

Cases Cited

AIR 1987 SC 352: 1986 Supp SCC 517:1987
AIR 1987 SC 1073
AIR 1987 SC 2426
AIR 1985 SC 652
AIR 1985 SC 814