The Supreme Court on Wednesday sentenced Maharashtra's former Environment and Forest Minister Swaroop Singh Nayak and state Forest Secretary Ashok Khot to one month's simple imprisonment, holding them guilty of the contempt of court.
A bench, comprising Chief Justice YK Sabharwal, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice SH Kapadia, found the duo guilty of wilful and deliberate disobedience of court's order, passed in 1997.
The court had directed the state government not to renew the licences of Wood and Benial Mills in the forest area and had ordered the closure of all such mills operating in the area, on the grounds that it was damaging the environment.
The two, however, permitted six such mills to operate, in 2004, in violation of the court's order.