Orissa Mining Corporation Ltd vs Ministry Of Environment & Forest &Ors

The Supreme Court ruled that the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) acted within its jurisdiction under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 when it rejected the Stage-II forest clearance for the diversion of 660.749 hectares of forest land for bauxite mining by Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC). The Court emphasized the importance of environmental protection and upheld the previous decisions in the Vedanta and Sterlite cases, affirming that the ecological balance must be maintained. The petition by OMC was dismissed, reinforcing the legal principle that environmental clearance is essential for projects affecting forest land.