The Supreme Court on Wednesday awarded one-month imprisonment to former Maharashtra environment and forest minister S S Nayak and the then principal secretary in the ministry Ashok Khot for conspiring to give licenses for operation of sawmills in the state despite a ban imposed by it.

A three-judge Bench held them guilty for willful violation of the court order.

The Bench comprised Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia.

The Supreme Court in 2002 had banned the operation of sawmills, but Nayak and Khot gave licenses to six such mills in violation of the order.