In Brief
K.H. Nazar sought environmental clearance for a quarry, claiming it qualified as a "commercial site" exempt from land ceiling provisions under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's majority view that quarries do not fall within the statutory definition of "commercial site"—which requires a structure utilized for industrial/commercial purposes. The Court held that extending this exemption to quarries would defeat the Act's core purpose of restricting land concentration. Environmental clearance could not override land reform protections. The appeals were dismissed.
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