Court No. - 21
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 6514 of 2019 Petitioner :- Aarif Respondent :- State Of U P And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ehtesham Akhtar Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Pradeep Kumar Singh Baghel,J. Hon'ble Pankaj Bhatia,J.
Heard learned counsel for the parties.
The present petition has been filed by the petitioner alleging that the petitioner is traditionally engaged in saw mill business and has applied for grant of licence to run his saw mill business using saw timber of 60 CM and has filed an application for grant of the said licence.
The petitioner has drawn our attention towards the regulations framed by the State of U.P. in exercise of powers under clause(a) of Section 51-A of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. The said rules are known as Uttar Pradesh Establishment and Regulation of Saw Mills (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2017. The petitioner has placed reliance upon Rule 15 which is as under:
15. Industries/processing plants not using round logs of domestic origin or operating without a band saw or re-saw or circular saw of more than thirty centimeter diameter shall not require license.
(a) Sawn timber, cane, bamboo, reed, plywood, veneers or imported wood, procured for legitimate sources.
(b) Block board, MDF or similar wood-based products, procured from legitimate sources.
(c) Round log/timber form species declared as agro- forestry/agricultural crops and/or exempted from the purview of the felling and transit regime in the State, and procured form legitimate sources.
However, State Level Committee of the State may allow installation of circular saw of diameter upto 60 centimeter in such industries having specialized requirement.
Such industries shall be registered with the Forest Department of the State and shall be regulated, details of which are to be prescribed by the State.
Transfer of license on sale/succession etc shall be done only with the approval of State Level Committee.
The petitioner thus prayed that the application should be considered by the State Level Committee in terms of the said Rules. The petitioner has also drawn our attention towards an order passed in Writ – C No. 3764 of 2019 (Mohd. Sajid vs. State of U.P. And 3 Others) wherein the Court had issued the following directions:
“Considering the fact that his application/representation is pending since March 2008, we direct the respondent no. 2 to consider and decide the application of the petitioner dated 13.3.2018 expeditiously and in accordance with law.
We permit the petitioner to file a fresh representation alongwith certified copy of this order within a period of two weeks from today and in the event the same is filed the respondent no. 2 shall pass a reasoned order in accordance with law within a period of two months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.
Needless to say that we have not expressed our opinion on the merits of the case and the respondent no. 2 shall take a decision independently in accordance with law within the time indicated above.”
In view of the fact that the application of the petitioner for grant of licence is pending, we direct the State Level Committee to decide the application of the petitioner for grant of licence expeditiously.
We further permit the petitioner to file a fresh application within two weeks from today, along with certified copy of this order, before the respondent no. 2, who shall pass the orders on the said application, in accordance with law, within a period of two months, from the date of production of a certified copy of the order.
It is made clear that we have not expressed our opinion on merits and the respondent no. 2 is directed to take a decision independently and in accordance with law.
The writ petition is disposed off.
Order Date :- 25.2.2019 Puspendra