State Th. Conservator Of Forests vs One Man Forest Authority And ...
2021 Latest Caselaw 856 j&K

                                                                     Serial No. 265




      HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH
                      AT JAMMU

                                                      CONC No. 90/2011
                                                  In MA No. 9900017/2011
                                           IA No. 99001/2011[D-367/2011]

State th. Conservator of Forests                                 ...Petitioner(s)
                   Through:- Mr. Ayjaz Lone, Dy. AG.


                          v/s

One Man Forest Authority and others                          ...Respondent(s)

                    Through:- Mr. R.K.S. Thakur, Advocate.


Coram:       HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JAVED IQBAL WANI, JUDGE

                                      ORDER

1. In compliance to order dated 09.08.2021, Conservator of Forests,

East Circle, Jammu, is present along with the record.

2. Learned counsel for the applicant, Mr. Lone, Dy. AG has filed

statement of facts on behalf of the applicant wherein at Para 4 and Para 5

following has been stated:-

"4. That the applicant/appellant humbly submits that after perusal of the records available, it has been found that at the relevant time while filing the above titled appeal/condonation of Delay Application, it appears that the fact that the order dated 25.11.2006, along with orders dated 31.03.2006 and 03.10.2006, was already challenged by way of OWP No. 89/2007 titled "State of J&K and ors. V/s One Man Forest Authority and another", inadvertently and purely due to human error/oversight, was not considered/taken into account and it was inadvertently stated in Para 4 of the memo of appeal that the applicant/appellant has not filed any appeal or any other

proceedings seeking quashment or setting aside the impugned orders in this appeal.

5. That it has further come to fore from the available record that the copy of the Writ Petition (OWP No. 98/2007) filed before the Hon'ble Court was not updated in the records and the copy of the Writ Petition available in the records only mentions challenge to Orders dated 31.03.2006 and 03.10.2006".

3. Mr. R.K.S. Thakur, appearing counsel for the non-applicants, invited the

attention of this Court to Para 2 of Page 7 of the appeal wherein following is

stated:-

"As in the present case of the appellant herein, the respondent No. 1 vide its judgment contained in Annexure- A-1, has held that nothing has been proved due by the appellant herein from the respondents, as such, the said statutory remedy of preferring an appeal before the said Court is not available to the present appellant herein"

4. According to Mr. Thakur, the said contention urged in the memo of

appeal is factually incorrect, in that the basic judgment passed by "One Man

Forest Authority" under Section 52(C) of J&K Forest Act, dated

26.04.1996, which judgment is referred to as annexure A-1 in Para 2 of

Page 7 of the appeal and that the appellant questioned the said order in a

writ petition before this Court which however, came to be treated as an

appeal registered as LPA(C) No. 14/2004 and the said appeal /LPA came to

be dismissed as being barred by time in terms of order dated 28.05.2004.

5. Be that as it is, this Court prima facie is of the opinion that the

applicant- Conservator of Forests, East Circle, Jammu has sworn a wrong

affidavit however, perusal of the record would suggests that the said

affidavit in support of application seeking condonation of delay in filing

statutory appeal inasmuch as affidavit accompanying the statutory appeal is

sworn by one, Sh. Suresh Kumar Gupta, the then Conservator of Forests,

East Circle, Jammu.

6. In view of the said position, the present Conservator of Forests, East

Circle, Jammu is relieved and his personal appearance is dispensed with.

7. The then, Conservator of Forests, East Circle, Jammu, Sh. Suresh

Kumar Gupta shall file an affidavit indicating and explaining therein that as

to why a wrong affidavit dated 31.03.2011 appended to the application

seeking condonation of delay has been sworn by him stating therein that the

appellant has not filed any other appeal or any other proceedings before the

Court of law including this Hon'ble Court or before the Apex Court seeking

quashment or setting aside of the impugned orders in the appeal when in

fact one of the orders dated 25.11.2006 had earlier been challenged in writ

petition OWP No. 98/2007.

8. The affidavit be filed by or before the next date of hearing.

9. A copy of this order be furnished to Mr. Lone for compliance by Sh.

Suresh Kumar Gupta.

List on 06.09.2021.

(JAVED IQBAL WANI) JUDGE

Jammu 11.08.2021 Renu

RENU BALA 2021.08.13 10:34 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document