THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH & ORS. ETC. ETC versus UDAY EDUCATION AND WELFARE TRUST AND ANR. ETC

Citation: [2022] 19 S.C.R. 781 · Decided: 21-10-2022 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: BHUSHAN RAMKRISHNA GAVAI · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 4 judgment(s) · cites 5 · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

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   [2022] 19 S.C.R. 781
781
THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH & ORS. ETC. ETC
v.
UDAY EDUCATION AND WELFARE TRUST AND ANR. ETC.
ETC.
(Civil Appeal Nos.2407–2412 of 2021)
OCTOBER 21, 2022
[B. R. GAVAI AND B. V. NAGARATHNA, JJ.]
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010: ss. 19(1), 20, 22 – Wood
Based Industries [Establishment and Regulation] Guidelines 2016
– Need for sustainable development – Provisional license – Issuance
of, for establishment of Wood based industries-WBIs – Timber
assessment for Trees Outside Forest-TOF in the State of U.P. for
WBIs by the Forest Survey of India-FSI – E-lottery held for grant of
licenses to various WBIs and issuance of provisional licenses to
1215 successful applicants in the 8 categories to set up their WBIs
– Subsequently, issuance of notice by the Government of UP
communicating the same to WBIs – Challenged to, by the respondent
– Direction by the National Green Tribunal to the U.P. State to submit
a report and to review its notice with regard to the establishment of
new WBIs –NGT then quashed and set aside the notice issued by
the State Government for establishing new WBIs and all the
provisional licenses given – NGT held that WBIs can be allowed to
operate only after ensuring timber and raw material availability to
sustain such industries and this was to be determined in actual terms
and not on mere assumptions – On appeal, held: Estimation arrived
at by the FSI was by applying a proper and adequate scientific
method – Courts should not enter into an area that is the domain of
the experts – Duty of the State as well as its citizens to safeguard
the forest of the country – Principles of natural justice are required
to be followed even in administrative actions when such actions
adversely affect the rights of the citizens – Furthermore, before a
litigant is permitted to knock the doors of justice and seek orders
which have far reaching effects of affecting the employment of
thousands of persons stopping investment in the State, prejudicing
the interests of the farmers; the credentials of the applicants must
be tested – While protecting the environment, the need for sustainable
development has also to be taken into consideration and a proper
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 19 S.C.R.
balance between the two has to be struck – For the sustainable
development of the State and on account of the availability of the
timber, sanction of granting licenses can be permitted to continue,
however, as a responsible State, it needs to ensure that environmental
concerns are duly attended to – Thus, the State Government directed
to ensure that while granting permission for felling trees of the
prohibited species, it should strictly ensure that the permission is
granted only when the conditions specified in the Notification dated
7th January 2020 are satisfied – Impugned orders of the NGT are
not sustainable in law andthus, are quashed and set aside.
Allowing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1.1 This Court had accepted the recommendations
of the CEC wherein the CEC had computed the total availability
of timber and had also taken into consideration the availability of
timber from the prohibited category. Even as per the assessment
of the IPIRTI, the timber requirement of a plywood unit is
required to be taken as ‘NIL’ on the ground that the round timber
is used as timber in the veneer units only and that the plywood
units are the secondary users which use the veneer as raw
material. [Para 49 & 59][797-D; 801-D-E]
1.2 As per the 2016 Guidelines, the SLC was reconstituted
in the State of U.P. The SLC was to assess the availability of
timber by commissioning studies, preferably in collaboration with
institutes/universities of repute, once in five years. In accordance
with the 2016 Guidelines, the FSI conducted the survey and
submitted its report in March 2018. For conducting the survey,
the FSI acquired satellite data for the inventoried districts of Uttar
Pradesh from National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad. The
entire gambit of scientific methodology was applied. FSI had also
divided the State of Uttar Pradesh into 9 Agro-climatic zones to
generate the estimate of growing stock and annual potential
production. The contention of the respondents that the rotation
method was not applied is totally incorrect. [Para 64-67][803-G-
H; 804-A, F; 805-B-C]
1.3 Estimation arrived at by the FSI was by applying a proper
and adequate scientific method. However, it is surprising that
the learn

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