- (1.) In this batch of writ petitions the petitioners have challenged the 4th and 5th Amendments to the U.P. Transit of Timber and Other Forest Produce Rules, 1978 (the Rules of 1978) made under Sections 41, 42, 51, and 76 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and have also raised issues of imposition and realisation of transit fees on the exempted goods or industrial by-products like Clinker and Fly ash.
(2.) The writ petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Rules of 1978, as well as the validity of the 3rd Amendment to the Rules were decided by a Division Bench of this Court in Kanhaiya Singh and another vs. State of UP and others, Civil Misc. Writ Petition No.16488 of 2007 decided on 5.4.2007, following the judgment in State of UP & others vs. Sitapur Packing Wood Suppliers & others, 2002 4 SCC 566, and the earlier judgment of this Court in Kumar Stone Works & others vs. State of UP & others, 2005 3 AWC 2177. In SLP (C) No.11367 of 2007 (Kanhaiya Singh & anr vs. State of UP & ors) Hon'ble Supreme Court by its order dated 23.7.2008, stayed the realisation of any demand of transit fees.
(3.) The State Government amended the Rules of 1978 by 4th Amendment dated 20.10.2010 raising the transit fee from Rs.38/- to Rs.200/75 per cubic meter capacity per lorry, and thereafter by the 5th Amendment to the Rules of 1978 dated 4.6.2011 it further enhanced the transit fees from 5% to 15% ad volarem on the value of the forest produce for transportation. In NTPC Limited and ors vs. State of UP and others, 2011 11 ADJ 390 decided on 11.11.2011, this Court declared the 4th and 5th Amendments to the Rules as unconstitutional and allowed the State Government to charge transit fees on the rates prescribed in the 3rd Amendment to the Rules of 1978. The State of UP has challenged in the judgment in NTPC Ltd vs. State of UP in the Supreme Court.;