RANGANATH MISRA, J. - (1.) ON 14/07/1983, a letter received from the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendera, Dehradun, bearing the date 2/07/1983, was directed to be registered as a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution and notice was ordered to the State of Uttar Pradesh and the Collector of Dehradun. Allegations of unauthorised and illegal mining in the Mussoorie - Dehradun belt which adversely affected the ecology of the area and led to environmental disorder were made. Later on another application with similar allegations was directed to be tagged with the earlier one. That is how these two writ petitions were born in the registry of this Court in a very innocuous manner as public interest litigation. The number of parties inflated both under the orders of the Court and on application to be added. Apart from the Governments of the Union and of Uttar Pradesh, several governmental agencies and mining lessees appeared in the proceedings. What initially appeared to be two simple applications for limited relief got expanded into a comprehensive litigation requiring appointment of committees, inspection and reports in them from time to time, serious exercises on the part of the mine owners before the committees, filing of affidavits both original and further, and lengthy arguments at the Bar. These also necessitated several comprehensive interlocutory directions and orders. These two writ petitions are being disposed of by this common judgment.
(2.) ON 11/08/1983. this Court appointed a Committee for inspection of the mines with a view to securing assistance in the determination as to whether safety standards laid down in the Mines Act of 1952 and the Rules made thereunder have been followed and whether there was any danger of land-slide on account of quarrying operations particularly during the rainy season, and if there was any other hazard to any individual, cattle or agricultural lands on account of carrying of the mining operations. At the preliminary stage this Court directed total stopping of blasting operations which, however, was modified later. The said Committee, referred to as the Bhargava Committee after its Chairman, classified the mines which it inspected into three groups, being A, B and C. It took note of the fact that earlier an Expert Committee known as the Working Group had been set up by the Union Government which had also inspected these mines. The Bhargava Committee was of the view that the C Group mines should be totally stopped; in the A Group mines, quarrying could be carried on after ensuring that there was no ecological or environmental hazard; and in regard to the B Group mines, the Committee opined that those may not be closed down permanently but the matter should be probed further. A three-Judge Bench of this Court by an order dated 12/03/1985 (1985 (3) SCR 169) : (AIR 1985 SC 652) directed closure of the C category mines as also certain B category mines on permanent basis and gave directions in regard to further action to be taken by the Bhargava Committee. While making the order the Court specifically stated that the reasons for the order would follow. One of the learned Judges constituting the three-Judge Bench retired from the Court on 30/09/1985, and the said learned Judge (A. N. Sen, J.) expressed his views in a short order dated 30/09/1985. The working Group appointed by the Union Government was also headed by the same Mr. Bhargava and had five other members. The examination by the two Committees appeared to be with the same object, namely, as to whether the mining was being properly done and whether such activity should be carried on in this area. The Working Group had classified the mines into two categories being I and II. They put those mines which according to them were suitable for continuing operation under Category I and the mines which in their opinion were unsuitable for further mining under Category II. An interesting feature in these two Reports seems to be that almost the same lime stone quarries which have been put by the Bhargava Committee under Category A feature in Category I of the Working Group. This Court in its order of 12/03/1985 (reported in AIR 1985 SC652 at p. 654), referred to those aspects and pointed out :- "It will thus be seen that both the Bhargava Committee and the Working Group were unanimous in their view that the lime stone quarries classified in category A by the Bhargava Committee Report and category I by the Working Group were suitable for continuance of mining operations. So far as the lime stone quarries in category C of the Bhargava Committee Report are concerned, they were regarded by both the Bhargava Committee and the Working Group as unsuitable for continuance of mining operations and both were of the view that they should be closed down. The only difference between the Bhargava Committee and the Working Group was in regard to lime stone quarries classified in category B." This Court had also appointed an Expert Committee consisting of Prof. K. S. Valdia, Mr. Hukum Singh and Mr. D. N. Kaul to enquire and investigate into the question of disturbance of ecology and pollution and affectation of air, water and environment by reason of quarrying operations or stone crushers and setting up of lime stone kilns. Mr. Kaul and Mr. Hukum Singh submitted a joint report with reference to various aspects indicated in their order of appointment while Prof. Valdia submitted a separate report. In the order of 12/03/1985, this Court took note of the position that Prof. Valdia's report was confined largely to the geological aspect and considerable reliance on the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) had been placed by him in making of the report and he had taken the view that the lime stone quarries which were dangerously close to the MBT should be closed down inasmuch as that was a sensitive and vulnerable belt. This Court then took the view that not much importance could be placed to Dr. Valdia's report for this litigation. The joint report submitted by Mr. Kaul and Mr. Hukum Singh had been taken into account by this Court in making interim directions and for the making of the final order no specific reference is called for. In the order of 12/03/1985 (reported in AIR 1985 SC 652), this Court directed that the C category mines of the Bhargava Committee Report should be closed down permanently and if any mining lessee of such a mine was running under the first grant or under Court's orders after its expiry, it would not be entitled to take advantage of the position. Similar order was made in regard to the B category mines situated in the Shasradhara block. This Court directed A category mines located within the Mussoorie municipal limits and the remaining B category mines to submit schemes subjected to further enquiry and ordered :- "We accordingly appoint a high powered Committee consisting of Mr. D. Bandyopadhyay, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development as Chairman, and Shri H. S. Ahuja, Director General, Mines Safety, Dhanbad, Bihar, Shri D. N. Bhargava, Controller General, Indian Bureau of Mines, New Secretariat Building, Nagpur and two experts to be nominated by the Department of Environment, Government of India within four weeks from the date of this Order. The lessees of the lime stone quarries classified as category A in Bhargava Committee Report and for Category I in the Working Group Report and falling within the city limits of Mussoorie as also the lessees of the lime stone quarries classified as category B in the Bhargava Committee Report will be at liberty to submit a full and detailed scheme for mining their lime stone quarries to this Committee (hereinafter called the Bandyopadhyay Committee) and if any such scheme or schemes are submitted the Bandyopadhyay Committee will proceed to examine the same without any unnecessary delay and submit a report to this Court whether in its opinion the particular lime stone quarry can be allowed to be operated in accordance with the scheme and if so, subject to what conditions and if it cannot be allowed to be operated the reasons for taking that view. The Bandyopadhyay Committee in making its report will take into account the various aspects which we had directed the Bhargav Committee and the Kaul Committee to consider while making their reports including the circumstances that the particular lime stone quarry may or may not be within the city limits of Mussoorie and also give an opportunity to the concerned lessee to be heard, even though it be briefly." Several mining lessees submitted their schemes which were examined by the Committee but none of them was cleared. Objections against rejection of the schemes had been filed before this Court by many of the aggrieved lessees. It was directed in the aforesaid order of l 2/03/1985 (reported in AIR 1985 SC 652), that until the Bandyopadhyay Committee cleared the particular mines for operation, mining activity in regard to all mines covered within the purview of examination by that Committee would stop. This Court, however, allowed A category mines located outside the city limits to operate. While directing closure of the Shasradhara area B category mines and all the C category mines, as also A and B category mines within the municipal limits, this Court made it clear that the ban indicated by it would supersede any order of any other court. The Court observed :- "The consequence of this Order made by us would be that the lessees of lime stone quarries which have been directed to be closed down permanently under this Order or which may be directed to be closed down permanently after consideration of the report of the Bandyopadhyay Committee, would be thrown out of business in which they have invested large sums of money and expanded considerable time and effort. This would undoubtedly cause hardship to them but it is a price that has to be paid for protecting and safeguarding the right of the people to live in healthy environment with minimal disturbance of ecological balance and without avoidable hazard to them and to their cattle; homes and agricultural land and undue affectation of air, water and environment." The Order of 12/03/1985, did not refer to the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 when it permitted the A category lime stone quarries located outside the city limits to operate.
(3.) THIS Court made several orders relating to specific aspects after the order of 12/03/1985 (reported in AIR 1985 SC 652). One such order was made on 30th May, 1985, (1985 (3) SCC 614) : (AIR 1985 SC 1259) another on 18th December, 1986, (1986 Suppl SCC 517): (AIR 1987 SC 359), where reasons for the order of 12/03/1985, were given, and yet another order was made on 19/10/1987 (AIR 1987 SC 2426). We shall refer to the last of these orders in a later part of this judgment. In the order of 16/12/1986, when the reasonings for the order dated 12/03/1985 were given, this Court had stated :- "It is for the Government and the Nation - and not for the Court - to decide whether the deposits should be exploited at the cost of ecology and environmental considerations or the industrial requirement should be otherwise satisfied. It may be perhaps possible to exercise greater control and vigil over the operation and strike a balance between preservation and utilisation; that would indeed be a matter for an expert body to examine and on the basis of appropriate advice, Government should take a policy decision and firmly implement the same." The Court had also indicated in its earlier order that it should be ensured that the low grade cilica content lime stone is specifically utilised only in special industries having regard to its quality and should not be wasted by being utilised for purposes for which this special grade lime stone is not required. Keeping these aspects in view, the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Department of Environment, Forests and Wildlife, constituted a Committee to examine the working of the lime stone mining operations in the Doon Valley by its memorandum No. J-20012/48/86-1A, dated 30th of December, 1986, which was also called the Working Group. Shri D. N. Bhargava was nominated as Chairman and the committee had three other members, namely, Shri V. C. Verma, Director General, Mines Safety, Dhanbad; Prof. B. B. Dhar, Department of Mining Engineering of the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; and Shri R. Mehta, Principal Scientific Officer, Department of Environment Forest and Wildlife, New Delhi. Shri Verma was substituted by Shri N. Mishra, Deputy Director General, Northern Zone. The terms of reference of the Committee were:- (i) Whether the operations are being carried out on scientific lines?; (ii) Whether the limestone quarried is being supplied to end-users as stipulated by the Supreme Court?; and (iii) The extent to which the mining operations are contributing to environmental damage? This Committee visited the six mines which are operating and indicated :- "The limestone deposits of Dehradun - Mussoorie area are highly valuable mineral resource now essentially required by the steel industry and it would be necessary to exploit them, of course, in a very planned and systematic manner." The Committee addressed itself to two aspects, namely,- (i) those which were considered suitable for mining operations, and (ii) those which were considered unsuitable for further mining. The Committee whose entire report has been made available to us came to the following conclusions in regard to each of the six operating mines: (i) Lambidhar Limestone Mine of M/s. Uttar Pradesh State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. (UPSMDC) is a State Undertaking and holds a mining lease of 97 hectares covering the Lambidhar Hills and the lease is valid up to 10/03/1996. The Committee found that 36% of its production was supplied to steel and chemical industries, 12% to sugar, 6% to cement and other miscellaneous industries and 46% to chips and lime kilns industries and disapproved this position. It further found that while colour limestone which is a metamarphose is being recorded as a minor mineral whereas it was learnt that it was being used for despatch as major mineral. The arrangement for classification of the limestone also was not acceptable to the Committee. It further found : "The hill slopes and the river/nallah base are covered by scree generated both during road construction as well as subsequent mining operations. This is the result of allowing the excavated material to roll down the slopes. The Committee is of the opinion that road making may bed one with front-end loader instead of bulldozer as with latter equipment excavated materials roll down the hill slope uncontrollably. The vegetation cover along the slopes has been damaged by the rolling material as well as the excavation made for the road making and the hills present an ugly look. Hydro-seeding may be done to improve looks of hill slopes. Deposition of debris/scree in the nullahs specially in Betarli is the cause of concern because it happens to be one of the main streams which is source of water supply to the villages as well as Dehradun city. The approach road has reached the top and mining operations have been started but no work on reclamation of mined out area has yet commenced. A proper disposal yard for stocking debris must be provided so that the present practice of disposing it near the camp office on the bank of the rivulet is prevented. Details of arrangements for controlling dust both in mining and crushing operations are not available." UPSMDC is the largest of the working mines and apart from the fact that it belongs to the Government of Uttar Pradesh, it has also the largest of investment. It has been claimed before us on its behalf that it operates most scientifically and satisfies all the requirements appropriate for ecological and environmental safeguards. The Report of the Committee, extracted above, negatives all these claims. (ii) We shall now refer to M/s. Punjab Lime and Limestone Company which has two mines both of which are working. Lease No. 14 covers 44.5 hectares and is a lease for 20 years from 1966; as such it has already expired. Lease No. 96 is for 28.92 hectares and would expire in December, 1989. Lease No. 14 had two areas and this Court disallowed mining in the Northern block. The Committee found that 16.4 hectares equal to 41 acres, out of lease No. 96 comprised of thick forest and the lessee has surrendered the forest area. The mining operation is being carried on in lease No. 14 under orders of the Court and the residual portion of lease No. 96. The Committee found that the scheme which had been offered to the Bandyopadhyay Committee was in regard to the mining in the northern block of lease No. 14 which has since been abandoned. It further transpires that about 27% of its output during 1986 was supplied for the steel industry. The report indicates that there is little generation of scree. As there is sparse growth of trees in the area covered by the mines, no significant deforestation is involved. Disposal of overburden is not significant. Check dams have been set up in the lower reaches which are on the right bank of Bhitarli river and no significant fall of the scree into the river was apprehended. (iii) Next is lease No. 72 of Shri R. K. Oberai which would expire on 10th of April, 1994. It has an area of 15.91 hectares. The Committee found that this mine lies in the upper reaches of the Song river. Thick forest growth is seen close to the mine and the Committee gathered that the forest authorities have declined permission to extend the mine workings beyond RL 1280. The committee found that the lessee has undertaken to carry out afforestation and has also started compensatory forestry in the adjacent areas. There was no apprehension of spreading of scree and future mining operations are not likely to involve any significant deforestation. The Committee also has opined that there is no apprehension of choking of the waterways due to mining operations as the Song river flows about 400 mts. away. ;