The Supreme Court on Monday, in a significant order, directed that the expression ‘forest’ will continue to be “broad and all-encompassing” for the time being, and include 1.97 lakh square km of undeclared forest lands.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud passed the order on a petition challenging the amended Forest Conservation Act of 2023.
The new amendments had “circumscribed or substantially diluted” the definition of forest to two categories — declared forests and lands recorded as ‘forests’ in government records after 1980.
In its order, the apex court ordered the government to revert to the “dictionary meaning” of ‘forest’ as upheld in a 1996 Supreme Court decision in the T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad case.
“The adoption of this dictionary meaning to forests was made to align with the intent of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. It is clarified that the expression ’forest’ will cover but not be confined to lands recorded as forests in the government records,” the court noted.
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Consolidated record
The Bench noted that the “all-encompassing” dictionary meaning upheld by the Supreme Court in the Godavarman case 25 years ago would continue to hold field until the States and Union Territories prepare a consolidated record of forest-like areas, unclassed and community forest lands in their respective jurisdictions as per Rule 16 of the Forest Conservation Rules.
The court said this exercise to prepare a consolidated record was notified on November 29, 2023 and would take a year.
“We clarify that pending the completion of this exercise by the States and union territories under Rule 16, the principles in T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad must continue to be observed,” the court ordered.
The Bench ordered the Environment Ministry to issue a circular in this regard to the States and Union Territories.
The court said the Thirumulpad order had at the time ordered States and Union Territories to constitute expert committees to identify forest lands.
On this, the Bench directed the Union government to require States and Union Territories within two weeks to forward the “comprehensive records” of the lands such expert committees had identified in pursuance of the apex court’s orders in the Thirumulpad case.
The States and Union Territories have to forward the records by March 31, 2024. The Environment Ministry has to publish these records on its website by April 15, 2024.
The Bench also directed that establishment of any “zoos or safaris” by any government or authority should not be consented to without the final approval of the apex court.
The court listed the case again in July 2024.
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