Hyderabad: The Telangana high court upheld the Forest Department’s efforts to stop barytes and dolomite mining in the Garla reserve forest of Khammam district, and dismissed petitions filed by mining and labour contract companies against stop-work notices issued since 2009.Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka criticised administrative lapses by revenue authorities, saying their wrongful classification of reserve forest land as “Sarkari” (govt land) facilitated extensive environmental damage across approximately 760 acres since 1962.The court also rejected challenges to a Survey of India report, which confirmed that the mining area lay within the Garla Reserve Forest.The dispute concerned lands in Pocharam and Sripuram villages. The Forest Department maintained the area formed part of the 44,582-acre Garla Protected Reserve Forest, notified on August 17, 1951, by the Nizam govt, while mining leases were granted based on faulty revenue records. In 2009, forest officials ordered a halt to mining, citing the lack of mandatory approvals under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.In 2013, the HC ordered the Survey of India to demarcate boundaries based on the 1951 notification. The report stated that roughly 762 acres of the leased area fell within the notified forest, with only 2.77 acres outside. The court rejected allegations of procedural bias and held the survey was transparent and free of infirmity. Relying on the report, the court ruled the land was unequivocally forest territory and said mining leases were granted due to a fundamental misconception caused by incorrect revenue classifications. The petitioners argued they operated for decades, cited previous environmental clearances and alleged arbitrary action by the Forest Department, but the court found the claims untenable and said the statutory mandate to protect forest land overrode them. It also noted that several leases already expired and some mining operations never commenced.
