IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.5315 of 2010 1. Ram Lakhan Choudhary S/O Late Dhora Choudhary, R/O Village - Lalapur Kudra, P.S - Kudra, District - Kaimur.-- -Petitioner. Versus 1. The State Of Bihar 2. Secretary, Forest Department, Government Of Bihar, Patna. 3. District Forest Officer, Forest Circle, Bhabhua Kaimur. 4. Divisional Forest Officer, Bhabhua, Kaimur. Respondents. ----------------- For the petitioner: Mr. Shio Parsan Singh,Advocate For the State : Mr. R.R. Tiwari,AC to AAG-12 -------------- 4. 07.9.2011. Heard learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State. The writ petition was filed seeking directions to the respondent authorities to consider the prayer for revocation of the suspension of the licence of the petitioner granted to him under the provisions of the Bihar Saw Mills (Regulation) Act, 1990 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and also to permit the petitioner to restart his Saw Mill. It is the case of the petitioner that his Saw Mill was operative and when he filed his application for renewal of his Saw Mill licence for the period 2009, he received a 2 communication from the Divisional Forest officer, Kaimur Forest Division, Bhabhua dated 12.1.2010 who while returning his application, inter alia, also informed him that his licence stood suspended and that some cases had been instituted against his Saw Mill. It is not the case of the petitioner that he was not aware of any such case being instituted against his Saw Mill, nor has he been served with any suspension order and thus the refusal of the Licensing Authority in granting renewal of his Saw Mill licence is arbitrary. A counter affidavit has been filed sworn by the Divisional Forest Officer, Kaimur, Bhabhua, i.e. the Licensing Authority, who has brought the entire sequence of events on the record of the proceedings. It is stated that following certain violations, a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner vide letter no.1484 dated 7.8.2006 for shifting his Saw Mill from the authorized place to another place without obtaining proper permission of the Licensing Authority. The petitioner did not respond to the show cause and the licence of the petitioner was suspended vide order dated 3 7.12.2006 and against which, no appeal as provided under the provisions of Section 12 of the Act, was filed by the petitioner, thus, confirming the order of suspension. Following the suspension aforesaid and pursuant to the order dated 20.12.2006, the Range Officer, Bhabhua inspected the Saw Mill and confirmed that the petitioner had changed the place and that unaccounted and illegally transported timbers were stored in his Saw Mill, which were seized. The seizure memo was prepared and the list of seized items was handed over to the petitioner. While the matter rested there, the petitioner filed a petition before the Licensing Authority on 5.1.2007 for renewal of his licence and which was refused. The petitioner filed another petition on 14.2.2007 and this time the Licensing Authority, considering the circumstances, allowed the prayer of the petitioner and his licence was renewed on 9.3.2007. The petitioner, on revocation of his suspension and renewal of licence, prayed for release of his seized items and which was allowed. The petitioner thus continued to operate his Saw Mill since 2007 and his 4 licence was renewed even in the following year 2008. At the stage of renewal of licence for the period 2009, the petitioner was directed to produce the stock register for verification of his stocks and when it was found that although the petitioner in his register had mentioned 69 pieces of timbers of different species totaling 623 cft. sawn in his mill, on inspection, it was found that 580 pieces of timber of different species were stored in the Saw Mill premise of the petitioner. As a consequence of aforesaid findings, the Licensing Authority-cum-Divisional Forest Officer, Kaimur, vide letter dated 5.3.2009, directed the Range officer to seize the Saw Mill of the petitioner in accordance with law. It so appears that not only the timber so found in the Saw Mill were seized, even the petitioner was arrested and a seizure memo was prepared giving rise to Forest Case No.12 of 2009 registered under the provisions of the Act and the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Subsequently, a confiscation proceeding was also initiated against the Saw Mill of the petitioner by the Licensing Authority giving rise to Confiscation Case 5 No.7 of 2009 and which is said to be pending before the Licensing Authority-cum-Divisional Forest Officer, Kaimur. It is thus contended that it is in the aforesaid background that the application of the petitioner seeking renewal of his licence was responded to vide letter dated 12.1.2010 as contained in Annexure-3 whereby the petitioner was communicated that in view of the confiscation case, it was not possible to renew his licence and his application was returned back to him. Considering the issue in the backdrop of the circumstances set forth in the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents, it is manifest that the prayer made by the petitioner can not be accepted as the renewal of the licence of the petitioner under the Act, can only be considered by the Licensing Authority consequent upon the disposal of Forest Case No.12 of 2009 and the Confiscation Case No.7 of 2009 and the orders passed thereunder. With the aforesaid observation, the writ petition is disposed of but not before reserving liberty to the petitioner to respond 6 to the confiscation proceeding arising out of Confiscation Case No.7 of 2009 and to avail of the remedies as available to him under the Act as well as under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, as the case may be. Needless to add that the Licensing Authority will be well advised to expedite the disposal of the confiscation proceeding after giving opportunity of hearing to the petitioner who will also cooperate in the process so that the same may be disposed of expeditiously and preferably within a period of three months from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. ahk (Jyoti Saran, J.)