AND IN THE MATTER OF: M/S. PUNTAMBEKAR MINERALS (THROUGH ITS PROPRIETOR SHRI
DILIP BHAUSAHEB MADAKE) Respondent(s)
For Applicant(s) Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR For Respondent(s) Mr. Balbir Singh, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh
Makker, AOR Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. S. S. Rebello, Adv. Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv. Mr. Raghav
Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sughosh Subramanyam, Adv. Dr. Arun Kumar Yadav, Adv. Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR Mr. Raj Kishor
Choudhary, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, AOR M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR Mr. C. A. Sundaram,
Sr. Adv. Mr. V. Balaji, Adv. Mr. N. Doraikannan, Adv. Mr. K. V. Dhanpalan, Adv. Mr. Asaithambi Msm, Adv. Mr. C. Kannan, Adv. Mr.
Nizamuddin, Adv. Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. S. Janani, AOR M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mrs. Nandini Gore, AOR
Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, AOR Ms. Pratibha Jain, AOR Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR Mr. Mohan
Prasad Gupta, Adv. Mr. Aniruddha Purushotham, Adv. Mr. Manoranjan Paikaray, Adv. Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR Mr. Surya
Kant, AOR Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Mr.
Prashant Kumar, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR Mr. Shiva Pujan Singh, AOR Mr. Rajesh
Singh, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. Gunmaya S. Mann, Adv. Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR Mr. Sudarsh Menon, AOR Mr.
Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mrs.
Manik Karanjawala, AOR Mr. M. C. Dhingra, AOR Mr. Gaurav Dhingra, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Vijay Laxmi, Adv.
Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Rajesh, AOR Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR Mr. S. R. Setia, AOR Ms.
Charu Mathur, AOR Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR Mr. C. L. Sahu, AOR Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR
Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR Mr. E. M. S. Anam, AOR Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR Mr. T. V. George,
AOR Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR
Mr. B V Deepak, AOR Mr. Vikas Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Rajshree Singh, Adv. Dr. Sham Chand, Adv. Mr. Vikram Singh, Adv. Mr.
T. N. Singh, AOR Mr. Punit Dutt Tyagi, AOR Mr. Rathin Das, AOR Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Mr. Rauf Rahim,
AOR Mrs. Rekha Pandey, AOR Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR Mr. A. N. Arora, AOR Ms. C. K. Sucharita,
AOR Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Mohd. Irshad Hanif, AOR Ms. Mala Diwedi, Adv. Ms. Rifat Ara
Butt, Adv. Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, AOR Ms. Malini Poduval, AOR Mr. Jai Prakash Pandey, AOR
Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR Mr. Pradeep Kumar Bakshi, AOR Mr. K. L. Janjani, AOR Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. A. Sumathi,
AOR Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR Mr. Ram Swarup Sharma, AOR Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR Ms. Divya
Roy, AOR Mr. Tarun Johri, AOR Mr. S. C. Birla, AOR Mr. P. R. Ramasesh, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR M/S. Parekh & Co.,
AOR M/S. K J John And Co, AOR Mr. V. Balachandran, AOR Ms. Baby Krishnan, AOR Ms. Bina Madhavan, AOR Mr. K. V.
Vijayakumar, AOR Mr. Umesh Bhagwat, AOR Mrs. M. Qamaruddin, AOR Mr. H. S. Parihar, AOR Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Mr.
Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR Mr. P. N. Gupta, AOR Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Mr. E. C. Agrawala,
AOR Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Ms. Madhu Moolchandani, AOR Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR Mr. Rajat Joseph, AOR Mr. Gopal
Prasad, AOR Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR Mr.
Saket Singh, Adv. Mrs. Sangeeta Singh, Adv. Mrs. Niranjana Singh, AOR Mr. Dhaval Mehrotra, AOR Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR Ms.
Shalini Kaul, AOR Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, AOR Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR Mr. Vishal Banshal,
Adv. Ms. Rajeshwari Shankar, Adv. Mr. Niroop Sukrithy, Adv. Mr. Jay Nirupam, Adv. Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Uma
Bhuvaneshwari. C, Adv. Mr. Abbas. B, Adv. M/S. D.s.k. Legal, AOR Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR Mrinal
Gopal Elker, AOR Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv. Ms. Shubhangi Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Shreyas Awasthi, Adv.
Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Manendra Pal
Gupta, Adv. Mr. Balbir Singh, A.S.G. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Naman Tandon, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Samarvir
Singh, Adv. Mr. Navanjay Mahapatra, Adv. Mr. T.s.sabarish, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR Mr. Kaushik
Choudhury, AOR Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Ashok Basoya, Adv. Mr. Arpit Prakash, Adv. Ms.
Anzu. K. Varkey, AOR Mr. Vivek Jain, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Ms. Vidyottma Jha, Adv. Mr. M. R.
Shamshad, AOR Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Bharat Bagla,
Adv. Ms. Shreya Saxena, Adv. Ms. Yamini Singh, Adv. Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar,
AOR Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Anil Raina, Adv. Ms. Diksha Sarin, Adv. M/S. V. Maheshwari
& Co., AOR M/S. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Aor, AOR Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR Mr. Akshay Shrivastava, Adv. Ms. Pratishtha
Vij, Adv. Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR Ms. Adarsh Nain, AOR Mr. Kumar Anurag Singh, Adv. Mr. Anando
Mukherjee, AOR Mrs. Tulika Mukherjee Adv, Adv. Mr. Siddhartha Jha, AOR Mr. A. Karthik, AOR Ms. Seita Vaidyalingam, AOR
M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv. Mr. Nishanth
Patil, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., AOR Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Mr.
Narendra Kumar, AOR Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR Mr. V.k.shukla, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra,
AOR Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. K.M.nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal,
AOR Ms. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kr Verma, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Kr Sharma, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. (d)
Harish Pandey, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, Adv. Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Upendra Mishra, Adv. Mr.
Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR Mr.
P. K. Manohar, AOR Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, AOR Mr. Shailesh
Madiyal, Adv. Mr. Vaibhav Sabharwal, Adv. Mr. Akshay Kumar, Adv.
2
J U D G M E N T
B.R. GAVAI, J.
- When we pronounced our judgment in I.A. No. 131377 of 2022 along with
connected applications in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 202 of 1995 on 26th April 2023, we did
not anticipate that within a few days, we would be called upon to clarify the position as to
whether mining activities would be permissible beyond the distance of one kilometer from
the boundary of the Protected Area, irrespective of the fact that such an area falls under
the Eco-Sensitive Zone (in short “ESZ”) notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change (“MoEF” for short). - We are grateful to the applicant in the present application for giving us this
opportunity to clarify this position so that further environmental damage is avoided. - The case of the applicant, in brief, is that the applicant was granted permission to
execute a mining lease as early as in 2005, subject to clearance from MoEF as well as
the National Board for Wild Life. - Shri Ranjit Kumar, learned senior counsel appearing for the applicant, submits that
the area where the applicant proposes to carry out the activity is beyond 2.26 kilometer
from the nearest boundary of the Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary. It is, therefore,
submitted that it falls beyond a distance of one kilometer from the boundary of the
Protected Area. - Mr. Ranjit Kumar, learned senior counsel, therefore, relying on our judgment dated
26th April 2023 passed in in I.A. No. 131377 of 2022 along with connected applications in
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 202 of 1995, the ink of which is yet to dry, submits that, since
mining is proposed to be carried out beyond a distance of one kilometer from the boundary
of Protected Area, it would very much be permitted. - Learned senior counsel submits that this Court has clearly held that mining within a
distance of one kilometer from the boundary of the Protected Area is banned. He submits
that, however, the judgment does not prohibit mining activities even in ESZ, which is a
buffer area, if it extends beyond a distance of one kilometer from the boundary of the
Protected Area. - He, however, submits that this would be subject to permission from the Standing
Committee of National Board for Wild Life (in short “SCNBWL”), which admittedly, has
granted permission. - Mr. Balbir Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the Union of
India as well as Mr. A.D.N. Rao, learned Amicus Curiae have vehemently opposed this
prayer and they submit that the contention of the applicant is based on a misreading of
the directions issued by this Court. - We find that the directions issued in paragraph 65 of the judgment of this Court
delivered on 26th April 2023 are very much clear. It reads thus:
“65. We also modify the direction contained in paragraph 56.4 of the order dated 3
rd June, 2022 (Supra)
and direct that mining within the National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary and within an area of one kilometre
from the boundary of such National Park and Wild Life Sanctuary shall not be permissible.” - The perusal of the above para would reveal that the directions, which were issued
by this Court earlier for prohibiting mining activities within a distance of one kilometer from
the boundary of such National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries only insofar as the State of
Goa was concerned, has been made applicable pan-India.
3 - The aforesaid question arose since in case of some of the National Parks and
Wildlife Sanctuaries, the ESZ areas are less than one kilometer. In some, it is as less as
500 meters and in some others, it is even less than 500 meters. - We, therefore, clarified that even in case where the ESZ boundaries are less than
one kilometer from the Protected Area, the ban on mining shall extend upto a distance of
one kilometer from the boundary of such areas. - It will further be relevant to refer to paragraph 66.1 of our judgment dated 26th April,
2023, which reads thus:
“66(i) The MoEF & CC and all the State/Union Territory Governments shall strictly follow the
provisions in the said Guidelines dated 9
th February 2011 and so also the provisions contained in
the ESZs notifications pertaining to the respective Protected Areas with regard to prohibited
activities, regulated activities and permissible activities;” - It could thus clearly be seen that we have directed that MoEF as well as all the State
Governments/Union Territories shall strictly follow the provisions in the Guidelines dated
9
th February, 2011, as also the provisions contained in the ESZs notifications pertaining to
the respective Protected Areas with regard to prohibited activities, regulated activities and
permissible activities. - As such, our directions are very much clear. Whatever is prohibited under the 2011
guidelines and whatever is additionally prohibited under the specific ESZ notifications of
the particular Protected Areas have to be strictly followed. - The perusal of paragraph 40 of the judgment dated 26th April 2023 would reveal that
the very first activity, which is contained in AnnexureI of the Guidelines, is commercial
mining and the same is prohibited. - Apart from that, it will also be relevant to refer to paragraph 4 of the Notification
dated 15th October, 2020 vide which a final notification had been notified in so far as the
ESZ for Radhanagari Sanctuary is concerned, which reads thus:
“4. List of activities prohibited or to be regulated within Ecosensitive Zone.- All activities in the
Eco-sensitive Zone shall be governed by the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
and the rules made there under including the Coastal Regulation Zone, 2011 and the
Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 and other applicable laws including the
Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (69 of 1980), the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (16 of 1927), the Wildlife
(Protection) Act 1972 (53 of 1972), and amendments made thereto and be regulated in the
manner specified in the Table below, namely:-
S.No. (1) Activity (2) Description (3)
A. Prohibited Activities. - Commercial
mining, stone
quarrying and
crushing units
(a) All new and existing mining (minor and major minerals),
stone quarrying and crushing units shall be prohibited with
immediate effect except for meeting the domestic needs of
bona fide local residents including digging of earth for
construction or repair of houses within Eco Sensitive Zone;
4
(b) The mining operations shall be carried our in accordance
with the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated the 4
th
August, 2006 in the matter of T.N. Godaverman Thirumulpad
Vs. UOI in W.P.(C) No. 202 of 1995 and dated the 21st April,
2014 in the matter of Goa Foundation Vs. UOI in W.P(C) No.
435 of 2012. - It could thus clearly be seen that Clause (a) of the Notification of the MoEF also
clearly mentions that all the new and existing minor and major minerals, stone quarrying
and crushing units shall be prohibited with immediate effect, except for meeting the
domestic needs of bona fide local residents, including digging of earth for construction or
repair of houses within ESZ. - No doubt that Clause (b) of the Notification of the MoEF mentions that the mining
operation shall be carried out in accordance with the order of this Court dated 04th August
2006 in the matter of T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad Vs. Union of India reported in (2010)
13 SCC 740 and order dated 21st April 2014 in the case of Goa Foundation v. Union of
India and Others reported in (2014) 6 SCC 590. - However, the last word on the issue is the judgment dated 26th April 2023. The
notification is dated 15th October 2020, i.e. prior to the pronouncement of our judgment. - As such, the provisions made in clause 1(b) of paragraph 4 of the Notification dated
15th October 2020 would now become redundant in view of our judgment and order dated
26th April 2023. 22. As such, any activity, which is prohibited by both the guidelines as well
as the ESZ notification shall strictly be prohibited. Since the mining activity in ESZ area is
a prohibited activity, there is no question of such an activity being permitted in an ESZ
area even if it falls beyond the distance of one kilometer from the boundary of the protected
area. - We clarify that even if in a particular case, the ESZ is more than one kilometer, still,
if the concerned area where mining is proposed falls within the ESZ, the mining activity
will not be permitted, even if it falls in an area which is beyond one kilometer from the
boundary of the Protected Area. - The prohibition of one kilometer from the boundary of Protected Area is only with
regard to the cases where the boundary of ESZ is less than one kilometer from the
boundary of the sanctuary. Only in such cases, the ban on mining will travel beyond the
ESZ area and cover an area upto a distance of one kilometer. - The aforesaid directions were issued in order to protect the National Parks and
Wildlife Sanctuaries so that the mines would not become a death trap for the flora and
fauna within them. - Apart from that, the judgment dated 26th April 2023 is delivered by a Bench of three
Judges of this Court, which is binding on us. - As such the application is rejected.