HC stays rules for bringing saw mills closer to forests
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 19
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the operation of rules that could bring saw mills and wood-based industries closer to forests from a distance of 10 km to 100 meters.
Acting on a petition filed in public interest, a Division Bench of the HC stayed the operation of Rule 6-A of the Punjab Regulation of Wood Based Industries Rules, 2017. It permitted the establishment of wood-based industry within 100 meters aerial distance from notified government block forests, besides demarcated and undemarcated protected forests in the state.
The Bench in its order made it clear that the stay order will remain in force at least till April 20 — the next date of hearing in the case. The Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and first puisne Justice Rajiv Sharma added: “The guidelines in this respect issued by the Ministry of Environment, called as the Wood-Based Industries (Establishment and Regulation) Guidelines, 2016, shall be strictly adhered to”.
The matter was brought to the HC notice by an Amritsar-based NGO Just Sewa Society. The NGO was seeking stay on issuance of licence under the provisions of the “Punjab Regulation of Wood-Based Industries Rules, 2017” notified by the state government.
Describing the notification “illegal and unconstitutional”, the petitioner NGO added it was against the guidelines issued in this regard by the Supreme Court. The state as such was required to be directed against issuance of any new licence to saw mills without inspecting the status regarding the availability of timber.
The Bench was told that the state had failed to consider the fact that the forest areas in Punjab were already under pressure because of anthropogenic factors such as rising pollution and climate change. The Bench was told that old and new saw mills had to be assessed on the basis of their operating capacity and other operational instruments such as vertical saw machines and raw machines installed for increasing the capacity of wood-based industries before granting licence.
