Muhammad Arshad vs Province of the Punjab through Secretary Forest Wildlife and Fisheries Department Lahore S

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Muhammad Arshad VS Province of the Punjab through Secretary Forest Wildlife and Fisheries Department Lahore S.26(1)(q) [as amended vide the Forest (Amendment) Act (XVII of 2010)]---Establishment of Sawpits, Sawmill, Charcoal Kiln, Timber or Firewood Depot Rules, 2013, Rr. 3 to 6---Reserved Forests---Removal of encroachments, etc.---Registration of establishment of sawmills, firewood depots and the like---Scope---Petitioners, being engaged in business with regard to establishment of sawmills, firewood depots, wooden craft and furniture shops, assailed the vires of notices issued by Forest Authorities (respondent ) whereby they were informed that according to amended S.26 (1)(q) of Forest Act, 1927 (Amended 2010) ,their business within the radius of 05 Miles (08 kilometer) of the forest was prohibited---Plea of the petitioners was that despite the fact that they got the registration and abided by all terms and conditions, respondent again issued the impugned notices---Validity---It evinced from the record that on 07.01.2013 a meeting was convened by the Forest Authorities; perusal of the minutes of the said meeting reflected that after detailed deliberations certain regulatory mechanism was agreed; thereafter, the Establishment of Sawpits, Sawmill, Charcoal Kiln, Timber or Firewood Depot Rules, 2013, were promulgated through Notification dated 18.03.2013 wherein under Rules 3 to 6 registration was declared to be mandatory and certain registers were also directed to be prepared---Section 26 of Forest Act, 1927, was substituted through the Forest (Amendment) Act, 2010 (Act XVII of 2010), dated 21.10.2010, wherein offences relating to reserved forests and their punishments were introduced---Section 26(1)(q)(2) of the Forest Act, 1927, stipulates that it was mandatory for the proprietor of sawmills to get registration of their business establishment from the Forest Department and also maintain different registers---Although, the petitioners had claimed that they were running the business after fulfilling all the formalities but none of the petitioners had annexed any proof with this petition which may suggest that they ever got registration from the Forest Department---Moreover, no document had been brought on record to establish that requisite registers had been maintained by them---Petitioners even failed to establish on record that they were not doing their business within the five miles (eight kilometers) radius of the forest---In absence of such details, the petitioners were not justified to challenge the impugned notices---On the other hand, respondent-Department submitted that the owners of the sawmills had neither fulfilled the clauses of the minutes of meeting dated 07.01.2013 nor had followed the conditions of agreement duly signed by them in the year 2013---Further, in the year 2013 only 48 installations were working in the area but now after mushroom growth said number had reached to 281 which was illegal and against the law---Thus, petitioners were not doing business after observing all codal formalities---High Court, while sitting in constitutional jurisdiction, cannot delve into factual depth to resolve the whole dispute in a slipshod manner---The questions which involve factual controversies cannot be resolved by the High Court through the present summary procedure under Art.199 of the Constitution---Respondents rightly issued notices to the petitioners to shift their sawmills etc. away from the 05 miles (08 kilometers) radius of the forest boundary---Petitioners remained unable to make out a case for interference---Constitutional petition, being devoid of any force/substance, was dismissed.

Muhammad Arshad vs Province of the Punjab through Secretary Forest Wildlife and Fisheries Department Lahore S — 2025 YLR 2651 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

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