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T.n. Godavarman Thirumalpad v. Union Of India

T.n. Godavarman Thirumalpad v. Union Of India

(Supreme Court Of India)

IA No. 670 in WP (C) 202 of 1995 | 23-09-2002

1. UPON hearing the counsel, the Court made the following

IA 670

2. Response to the Report of the Committee be given within 10 days. In the meantime, Mr. Valmiki Thapar is requested to give a further report alongwith photographs in support of his note of dissent. In order to enable him to do so the Company will, initially, defray his expenses. Till further orders, mining may continue. To come up on 22nd October, 2002.

IA 780

3. Copy of the Report of the Central Empowered Committee is taken on record. Learned Amicus Curiae will inform the Court on the next date of hearing as to how the expenses which may come up to Rs. 5 Crores are to be met by deposits by different persons who were responsible for defacing the rocks and had put up unauthorised hoardings. In addition, the learned Amicus Curiae will indicate the quantum of punitive damages which have to be imposed.

4. It is unfortunate that such large scale vandalism has taken place with the State Government taking no action so as to check the same. In the realm of public trust it was the duty of the State Government to protect the environment and for the dereliction of its duty Rs. One Crore will be deposited by the State of Himachal Pradesh in the Registry which will go towards meeting the expenses necessary for restoration of ecology.

5. From the Report, it appears that on National Highway-IV outside Bangalore similar advertisements have been painted on the rocks. The Companies responsible in respect thereof are including others ACC, Coromandal King, Rasna, Fertilizer Chemicals-Travancore, Alpine, Indo-tex and Indo-chem. Notice to issue to these Companies as well as to the State of Karnataka. Notice is accepted by the learned Advocate General for the State of Karnataka who is present in Court, who may give his response for the State within three days. Copies of the Report be supplied to such other counsel who may desire to see the report and they may also give their responses within three days. Ministry of Environment & forests will also give a report to this Court on the next date of hearing based on information to be gathered from different States through the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests or through any other authority as to whether such vandalism is prevalent in other states also and if so, to what extent.

6. List on 26th September, 2002 at 2.00 P.M.

IAs 801 and 802

7. Dismissed.

Advocate List

  • Mr. Harish N Salve, SG (AC), Mr. U U Lalit, Adv. (AC), Mr. Siddharth Choudhary, Mr. P K Manohar, Advocates., for the Appearing Parties; Mr. A D N Rao, Mr. S Wasim A Qadri, Ms. Anil Katiyar, Advocates., for the Ministry of Environ-ment & Forests/UoI; Mr. K.K. Venugopal, Sr. Adv., Mr. Shiva Subramanian, Mr. S. Sukumaran, Ms. Divya Nair, Mr. Ramesh Babu M.R., Mr. Sanjay R Hegde, Advocates., for the Kudremukh Iron Ore Co. Ltd.; Mr. Ashok H. Desai, Sr. Adv., Ms. P.S. Shroff, Mr. Manu Nair, M/s S.A. Shroff & Co., Advocates., for the For Coca Cola; Mr. Arun Jaitley, Sr. Adv., Mr. Maninder Singh, Ms. Pratibha M. Singh, Ms. Kavita Wadia, Ms. Anubha Arora, Mr. Ankur Talwar, Advocates., for the Pepsi; Mr. C S Vaidyanathan, Sr. Adv., Ms. Ruby Singh Ahuja, Advocate., for the Nestle Ltd.; Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Adv., Mr. Anil Kumar Sangal, Ms. Pragnya, Advocates., for the MBD Books; Mr. Ramesh N Keshwani, Mr. Ram Lal Roy, Mr. G. Sivakumaran, Advocates., for the Fena & SBI; Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, Advocate., for the State of Himachal Pradesh; Mr. Makarand D. Adkar, Mr. S.D. Singh, Mr. Vijay Kumar, Mr. Vishwajit Singh, Advocate., for the State of Himachal Pradesh in IA 801 and 802; Mr. Bharat Sangal, Ms. Sangeeta Panicker, Mr. Rana Ranjeet Singh, Advocates., for the Rules; Mr. S. ravindra Bhat, (MD, Sleepwell Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.) Mr. Naveen R. Nath, Ms. Lalit Mohini Bhat, Ms. Hetu Arora, Advocates., For RR in IA 780; Mr. A.N. Jayaram, Adv. Genl., for the State of Karnataka

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Bench
  • HON'BLE JUSTICEB.N. KIRPAL
  • HON'BLE JUSTICEMR. K.G. BALAKRISHNAN
  • HON'BLE JUSTICEMR. ARIJIT PASAYAT
Eq Citations
  • 2002 (7) SCALE 419
  • LQ/SC/2002/1002
Head Note

A. Environment Protection and Pollution Control — Mining — Mining of limestone in Himachal Pradesh — Mining may continue till further orders — Response to report of Committee be given within 10 days — In the meantime, Mr. Valmiki Thapar is requested to give a further report alongwith photographs in support of his note of dissent — In order to enable him to do so the Company will, initially, defray his expenses — Himachal Pradesh State to deposit Rs. 1 Crore in Registry for dereliction of its duty in not taking action to check vandalism — Constitution of India, Arts. 48-A and 51-A(g)