P V S TIMBERS Vs. DIVISIONAL FOREST OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellants are the writ petitioners. They approached this Court aggrieved by the orders passed by the Divisional Forest Officer cancelling the No Objection Certificate (NOC) granted to them for running wood based industries. The cancellation was made on the ground that the Divisional Forest Officer who granted the NOC was not competent to issue the NOC and it is the State Level Empowered Committee (State Level Committee for wood based industries in Kerala) which is competent to grant NOC in view of the decision of the apex Court in Godavarman Thirumulpad's case (2002 (9) SCALE).

(2.) One of the main contentions taken in the writ petitions was that the cancellation was made without notice. It was also contended that the industries did not require NOC from the State Level Empowered Committee since they had been in existence prior to 30.10.2002, the date of decision of the apex Court. The learned Single Judge turned down both the contentions and dismissed the writ petitions. Hence the writ appeals.

(3.) According to the learned senior counsel, the learned Single Judge patently erred in entering a factual finding that the industries of the appellants/writ petitioners started only after 2002 on the only ground that the applications for licence were filed only thereafter. It is submitted that even going by the report of the Range Officer and also the Grama Panchayat, it can be seen that the industries had been functioning since decades, and in any case prior to 2002. It is further contended that, at any rate, even assuming that the Divisional Forest Officer was not competent to grant NOC, before cancelling the NOC already granted, being a running concern, notice should have been issued.