Veeru Devgan Vs. State of Tamil Nadu and Anr. Country/Territory India Type of court National - higher court Date Sep 11, 2008 Source UNEP, InforMEA Court name Supreme Court of India Seat of court New Delhi Judge Thakker, C.K.Panta., L.S. Language English Subject Forestry Keyword Forest service/forest officers Forest management/forest conservation Social forestry/community forestry Forestry protection measures Abstract The appellant, engaged in the production and direction of films, obtained ‘no objection certificate to shoot a part of the film in the Nilgiri South and North Division He Submitted charges and expenses and an agreement was executed with District Forest Officer whereby permission was granted for shooting the film and erection of temporary sets. On the basis of allegation by a newspaper that grasslands were being damaged and wildlife was disturbed, DFO cancelled the permission. The appellant filed a Writ Petition under Article 226 challenging the cancellation of licence. In December, 1999, the High Court ordered deposit of Rs 50 lakh with the court finding his unit guilty of damaging the environment during the shooting of the film around Ooty in Tamil Nadu with the direction that the amount would be utilised for protection of the forest land. This was despite the fact that the High Court while examining the allegation of an NGO, recorded the finding that no damage was caused to the flora and fauna of the forest land due to erection of pre-fabricated sets at the locale. and therefore, the action of cancellation of licence and termination of agreement was illegal and contrary to law. Hence the present appeal in the apex court against the High Court order, saying that there was no evidence that the film unit had caused any damage to the environment as most of the shooting was confined to non-forest areas and that in the absence of any clinching evidence towards the alleged violation of Forest Protection Act, the HC erred in saddling the appellant with a huge fine Accepting the arguments, the apex Court allowed th eappeal and directed the Tamil Nadu government to refund the fine amount to appellant. Full text COU-156282.pdf