On 19 February, 2024, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the government to continue following the all-encompassing “dictionary meaning” of forest as upheld in a 1996 Supreme Court decision in the T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad case till a final verdict is passed out on a petition challenging the amended Forest Conservation Act of 2023.
Forest Conservation Act, 1980
- The provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, which came into force in 1980, predominantly applied to tracts of forest land recognised as such by the Indian Forest Act, or by States in their records since 1980.
T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad judgement 1996
- The 1996 judgement decreed that forests had to be protected irrespective of how they were classified and who owned them.
- This brought in the concept of ‘deemed forests,’ or forest-like tracts that weren’t officially classified as such in government or revenue records but looked like them.
- States have interpreted ‘forests’ differently. Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh define a forest as a tract that spans a minimum of 10 hectares, is covered with naturally growing timber, fuel wood and yielding trees and, has a density of 200 trees or more per hectare.
- Goa defines a forest as a patch of land having at least 75% covered with forest species.
Forest Conservation Act of 2023
- The Centre’s Forest Conservation Act of 2023 was enacted to bring “clarity” as there were large tracts of recorded-forest land that had already been legally put to non-forestry uses, but conformed to a State’s criteria of a ‘deemed forest.’
- As per the 2023 amendment act, forest land situated within a distance of 100 kilometres along international borders or the Line of Control or Line of Actual Control, and which needed to be cleared to construct strategic linear projects of national importance would also be exempt from the Act.
- Similarly, any 10 hectares in a forest, regarded necessary for use in constructing security related infrastructure or five hectares in forest land affected by ‘left wing extremism’ too would be bereft of protection.
- Similar exemptions have been made for 0.10 ha of forest land proposed to be provide connectivity to habitation and establishments located on the side of roads and railways.
- The petitioners have challenged this amendment act.
