JLR Is State Owned Company, Not Required To Obtain Permission Of Central Govt For Construction Within Reserve Forest: Karnataka High Court

A division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj observed,

"We are of the considered view that Jungle lodges and resorts which has constructed the jungle lodge in Dubare is a body created by the KSTDC which itself is totally controlled by State government and no private interest is involved in the activities in Jungle lodges and resorts limited. The Managing Director of the Jungle Lodges resort is a government servant belonging to the IFS cadre."

It held that the petition filed, by one PS Mohan, questioning the construction of the resort, was misconceived. The court also imposed a cost of Rs. 50,000 on the petitioner.

It said,

"We are of the considered view that the petition has been filed without any material to support the contention raised in the writ petition and it appears that it has been filed with deliberate ulterior motives in order to pressurize the respondents. The conduct of the petitioner as such is deprecated and for the purpose of wasting the precious time of the court, we impose a cost of Rs. 50,000 on the petitioner."

The cost is to be paid within a month to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, failing which it would be recovered as arrears from Land revenue.

Background

The petitioner claimed that Jungle Lodges & Resorts Ltd had constructed a resort in the reserve forest, which is manifestly illegal and in contravention of section 2(iii) of Forest Conservation Act.

Section 2(iii) reads thus:

2. Restriction on the de-reservation of forests or use of forest land for non forest purpose: Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force in a State, no State Government or other authority shall make, except with the prior approval of the Central Government.

(iii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or any other Organisation not owned, managed or controlled by Government.

It was argued that no such permission was taken from the Central government before constructing the aforesaid jungle lodge and as such the entire activity is illegal. The petitioners also relied on the Karnataka High Court Judgement in the case of M/S. Gateway Hotels & Gateway v. Nagarahole Budakattu Hakku, 1999 (5) KarLJ 63.

Respondent's arguments

The government counsel opposed the plea saying Jungle Lodges and Resorts Limited has been constituted under the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), which is a state owned body. The company is not owned, managed or controlled by any private person but it is under control of the State Tourism Development Corporation which is created by the state government.

Moreover, it was submitted that no permission of the Central Government is required for construction of any lodge by KSTDC in the reserved forest area under the boundaries of the state government.

The company (respondent 8) raised a preliminary objection to the petition stating that it is filed with personal vested interest as the petitioners were stopped from carrying out river rafting activities in the Dubare area, and thus no public interest is involved in the instant petition.

Findings

The court on going through the records observed,

"...we are of the considered view that section 2 (iii) of Forest Conservation Act, would not be applicable to the present facts of the case and no permission of Central Government under the said provisions was required for construction of the impugned jungle lodges and resort. The contention of petition in this regard is misconceived."

With respect to the judgement relied by the petitioners in the case of M/S. Gateway Hotels & Gateway (supra), the court observed that, "The perusal of paragraph 28 of the judgement goes to show that reserved forest land was given to a private company without seeking prior approval from the Central government. However, that is not the case in the present matter."

It added, "We have already held that no private player was involved in the jungle lodges and resorts which is totally a body created by KSTDC and as such we are of the considered view that judgement relied by petition is not applicable to the present facts of the case."

Accordingly, it disposed of the petition.

Case Title: PS Mohan v. State Of Karnataka

Case No: WP 22567/2016

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Kar)1