States/UTs Must Follow Definition Of 'Forest' Given By Godavarman Judgment Till Forests Are Identified As Per 2023 Rules : Supreme Court
1 year, 1 month ago

States/UTs Must Follow Definition Of 'Forest' Given By Godavarman Judgment Till Forests Are Identified As Per 2023 Rules : Supreme Court

Live Law  

The Supreme Court on Monday passed an interim order directing that States and Union Territories must act as per the definition of "forest" laid down in the 1996 judgment in T.N Godavarman Thirumalpad v. Union of India while the process of identifying land recorded as forests in Government records is going on as per the 2023 amendment to Forest Act.A bench led by. The Supreme Court on Monday passed an interim order directing that States and Union Territories must act as per the definition of "forest" laid down in the 1996 judgment in T.N Godavarman Thirumalpad v. Union of India while the process of identifying land recorded as forests in Government records is going on as per the 2023 amendment to Forest Act. The Court further directed the Union of India shall, within a period of 2 weeks from the date of this order, require all States/UTs to provide to it a comprehensive record of land which has been identified as forests by the expert committees constituted by the States/UTs as per the TN Godavarman judgment. The Expert Committees which are constituted as per Rule 16 of the 2023 Rules shall duly bear in mind the work carried out by the previous expert committees formed as per the Godavarman judgment.

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History of this topic

SC directs States, Union Territories to provide consolidated records of their forest lands in six months
2 weeks, 2 days ago

SC directs States, Union Territories to provide consolidated records of their forest lands in six months

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a stern warning that Chief Secretaries of States and Administrators of Union Territories will be held personally liable if they failed to constitute expert committees to identify forests in their respective jurisdictions in a month, followed by the preparation of consolidated records of these lands within the next six months. Rule 16 brings “forest-like …

'Will Hold Chief Secretaries Personally Liable' : Supreme Court Warns States/UTs Which Haven't Formed Expert Committees To Identify Forest Areas
2 weeks, 2 days ago

'Will Hold Chief Secretaries Personally Liable' : Supreme Court Warns States/UTs Which Haven't Formed Expert Committees To Identify Forest Areas

Live Law  

The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on States/Union Territories for not complying with its earlier directions to constitute expert committees for the identification of forest areas.If the non-compliant States fail to constitute the Expert Committees within one month and carry out the exercise in terms of Rule 16 of Van Rules, 2023 within. The Supreme Court on Tuesday …

EXPLAINER | Why amended forest laws are under judicial lens
1 month, 1 week ago

EXPLAINER | Why amended forest laws are under judicial lens

New Indian Express  

NEW DELHI: On February 3 this year, the Supreme Court issued an interim order restraining the Central and state governments from cutting down forest areas if there is no provision of compensatory land. The court's interim order came on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the FCA 2023, which the petitioners claim excludes nearly 1.99 lakh sq km …

Supreme Court Bars Union & States From Reducing Forest Land Unless Compensatory Land Provided
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Supreme Court Bars Union & States From Reducing Forest Land Unless Compensatory Land Provided

Live Law  

The Supreme Court yesterday restrained the Union and the States from taking any steps that would lead to reduction in "forest land" across the country, unless provision is made by them for compensatory land.A bench of Justices BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran passed the order to the following effect: "Until further orders, no steps will be taken by the …

Centre, states can’t reduce forest cover: SC
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Centre, states can’t reduce forest cover: SC

New Indian Express  

NEW DELHI: In a stern warning, the Supreme Court on Monday restrained the Centre and state governments from reducing forest areas without providing compensatory land. The interim order came after a batch of petitions challenged amendments to the 2023 forest conservation law, which allegedly excludes nearly 1.99 lakh square kilometres of forest land from the definition of “forest”. The court …

Supreme Court mandates compensatory afforestation for any forest land reduction
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Supreme Court mandates compensatory afforestation for any forest land reduction

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court made it clear to the Union Government and States on Monday that no steps will be taken by them to reduce the forest land unless compensatory land is provided by them for afforestation. In February last year, the apex court significantly declared in an order that the expression ‘forest’ would continue to have a “broad and all-encompassing” …

No steps to be taken by Centre, states to reduce forest cover: SC
1 month, 2 weeks ago

No steps to be taken by Centre, states to reduce forest cover: SC

Deccan Chronicle  

The Supreme Court on Monday restrained until further orders the Centre and the states from taking any step that would reduce forest areas.A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran was hearing a batch of petitions against the amendments to the 2023 forest conservation law. In February last year, the top court took note of the submission …

Karnataka HC quashes forest department’s orders against private land
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Karnataka HC quashes forest department’s orders against private land

New Indian Express  

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court quashed the orders passed by the forest authorities declaring around 19 acres 35 guntas of land belonging to six persons as forest land at Mylasandra village of Kengeri Hobli in Bengaluru South taluk. The petitioners had challenged the order passed by the Chief Conservator of Forests in 2014, affirming the order passed by the Assistant …

Forest department issues notices to 4 officials for violating Forest Act
4 months, 1 week ago

Forest department issues notices to 4 officials for violating Forest Act

Hindustan Times  

The state forest department on Monday issued show-cause notices to retired IAS officer Sandeep Dave, retired IFS officer Vijayakumar Gogi, and current officials Smita Bijoor and R Gokul over alleged violations of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 by declaring a forest land occupied by the Hindustan Machine Tools as “non-forest”. Principal chief conservator of forests BK Dikshit emphasised the …

Chunk of India’s forests ‘missing’ after 27-year-delay to file reports | Analysis
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Chunk of India’s forests ‘missing’ after 27-year-delay to file reports | Analysis

The Hindu  

In compliance with a February 19, 2024, Supreme Court order, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change uploaded the various State Expert Committee reports on its website earlier in April. A key concern in the petition was that the status of unclassed forests, which were to be identified by the state SEC reports, wasn’t known or if they had …

Forest Rights recognition major issue in 153 LS constituencies, says analysis
11 months, 1 week ago

Forest Rights recognition major issue in 153 LS constituencies, says analysis

Hindustan Times  

There are around 153 parliamentary constituencies where recognition of individual and community forest rights is among the major issues facing voters, a new analysis has found. Building upon a similar exercise conducted in 2019, independent forest rights researchers released an analysis on Friday which assess the potential of the Forest Rights Act 2006 in advancing the rights of tribal and …

Calm assessment: On the extent of ‘deemed forest’
1 year, 1 month ago

Calm assessment: On the extent of ‘deemed forest’

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court of India has put on pause an ambitious effort by the Centre to amend India’s Forest Act, 1980, that was brought in to check the wanton razing of forests for ‘non-forestry uses’. There is apparently, the Centre says, a reluctance among private citizens to cultivate private plantations and orchards, despite their significant ecological benefits, for fear that …

Go back to dictionary meaning of ‘forest’: Supreme Court
1 year, 1 month ago

Go back to dictionary meaning of ‘forest’: Supreme Court

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court on Monday, in a significant order, directed that the expression ‘forest’ will continue to have a “broad and all-encompassing” meaning for the time being, and include 1.97 lakh square km of undeclared forest lands. However, the court directed the government for clarity’s sake to revert to the “dictionary meaning” of ‘forest’ as upheld in a 1996 Supreme …

No more ‘deemed forests’, says Odisha government
1 year, 7 months ago

No more ‘deemed forests’, says Odisha government

The Hindu  

The Odisha government has sent a letter to district officials underlining that industry requests to divert forest land for non-forestry purposes now ought to conform with the amended Forest Act and that ‘deemed forests’ as a category would cease to exist. Nearly half of Odisha’s forest land was ‘deemed forest,’ experts told The Hindu and the Odisha government’s interpretation of …

HT interview: Forest act will help improve status of forward areas, says Bhupender Yadav
1 year, 7 months ago

HT interview: Forest act will help improve status of forward areas, says Bhupender Yadav

Hindustan Times  

New Delhi Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav spoke to HT about the Forest Conservation Act, 2023 -- which was cleared by Parliament in the monsoon session -- on the eve of World Elephant Day, which falls on August 12. Why has the government exempted unrecorded deemed forests from the ambit of the Forest Conservation Bill?The applicability of the Forest Conservation …

Parliament Passes Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023
1 year, 7 months ago

Parliament Passes Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023

Live Law  

After the judgment, the Act was applied to recorded forest areas, including those already used for non-forestry purposes. Godavarman vs. Union of India and others, the Forest Act only applied to notified forest lands, not revenue forest areas and non-forestry use in the revenue forest areas was allowed through government's permissions. These include land notified as a forest under the …

Explained | What will the amended Forest (Conservation) Act change?
1 year, 7 months ago

Explained | What will the amended Forest (Conservation) Act change?

The Hindu  

August 01, 2023 07:01 pm | Updated August 04, 2023 10:27 am IST - Bengaluru The highly controversial Forest Amendment Bill 2023 is awaiting debate in the Rajya Sabha after having been passed by the Lok Sabha with almost no debate in June. It stipulates that only those lands that were notified as ‘forest’ under the Indian Forest Act 1927, …

Facing the axe: new ‘forest’ definition makes large tracts vulnerable
1 year, 7 months ago

Facing the axe: new ‘forest’ definition makes large tracts vulnerable

The Hindu  

The Dongria Kondh tribe, one of 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups in Odisha, fought a historic winning battle to save its ecology from bauxite mining operations in the Niyamgiri hill range from 2004 to 2013. The new legislation may open a window for government agencies to divert land not classified as ‘forest’ in government records to other purposes. The amendment …

Strike a balance on forest laws
1 year, 7 months ago

Strike a balance on forest laws

Hindustan Times  

What is a forest? Land that was recorded as a forest in any government record, as on or after October 25, 1980 – the day the original forest conservation act came into effect – except where land use was changed from forest to non-forest purpose before December 12, 1996 will also be covered. A report by Vidhi Centre for Legal …

New forest bill must strike a fine balance
1 year, 8 months ago

New forest bill must strike a fine balance

Hindustan Times  

Among the most important bills likely to be tabled in Parliament in the upcoming monsoon session is the Forest Amendment Bill, 2023. And if the developments in the joint parliamentary committee scrutinising the draft legislation are any clue, then it is likely to be contentious as well. This newspaper reported that the panel is likely to finalise its report on …

Objections overruled, Forest Bill goes to House unchanged
1 year, 8 months ago

Objections overruled, Forest Bill goes to House unchanged

The Hindu  

A Parliamentary committee, set up to examine controversial proposed amendments to the Forest Act, 1980, has endorsed the amendment Bill in its entirety. Touching a raw nerve The proposed amendments to the Forest Act, 1980 have attracted objections on various grounds: ‘Dilution’ of the Supreme Court’s 1996 judgment in the Godavarman case that extended protection to wide tracts of forests, …

Centre overhauls process to grant clearances for projects on forest land
2 years, 6 months ago

Centre overhauls process to grant clearances for projects on forest land

Hindustan Times  

The Union environment ministry has overhauled the process to grant clearances to projects requiring forest diversions under the Forest Conservation Rules 2022, officials familiar with the matter said. The Forest Conservation Rules 2022, which was notified in June 28, seeks to replace forest conservation rules 2003 and make the process of granting forest clearance efficient. In a letter to all …

Congress, BJP spar over new forest conservation rules
2 years, 8 months ago

Congress, BJP spar over new forest conservation rules

The Hindu  

Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh on Sunday engaged in war of words on Twitter on provisions of the Forest Rules, 2022. The Forest Rights Act, 2006, along with a 2009 government order, makes it mandatory to seek “free, prior and informed consent” of families who would be affected by such diversion of forest land, Mr. …

Govt directs formation of screening panel to review diversion of forest lands
2 years, 8 months ago

Govt directs formation of screening panel to review diversion of forest lands

Hindustan Times  

The environment ministry has directed the constitution of a project screening committee in each state/UT for an initial review proposals involving diversion of forest land, according to the Forest Rules, 2022, notified on Tuesday. “This is a new concept that has been introduced to reduce the time taken in appraising projects involving forest land. The other significant change introduced in …

There Cannot Be Any 'Deemed Forest' Under The Forest Conservation Act: Karnataka High Court Reiterates
2 years, 8 months ago

There Cannot Be Any 'Deemed Forest' Under The Forest Conservation Act: Karnataka High Court Reiterates

Live Law  

The Karnataka High Court has reiterated that a land can either be a "forest" or a "forest land", but there cannot be any "deemed forest" in absence of any provision under the Forest Conservation Act. A division bench Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Ashok S Kinagi while allowing a petition filed by one DM Deve Gowda said, "This …

Keep eco-sensitive zone of 1 km around forests: Supreme Court
2 years, 9 months ago

Keep eco-sensitive zone of 1 km around forests: Supreme Court

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court on Friday directed that every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone of a minimum one km starting from their demarcated boundaries. Environment Ministry guidelines show that the purpose of declaring ESZs around national parks, forests and sanctuaries is to create some kind of a “shock absorber” for …

Karnataka: Nod for Yettinahole given in violation of National Forest Policy?
7 years, 7 months ago

Karnataka: Nod for Yettinahole given in violation of National Forest Policy?

Deccan Chronicle  

Hassan: Green activist K.N. Somashekar has challenged the forest clearances granted by the ministry of forests and environment for the Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Project in the National Green Tribunal. He raised the alleged violation of the National Forest Policy and a deliberate attempt by the officials concerned not to go for a cost benefit analysis, when the matter came …

What’s a forest, state asks planning board
10 years, 1 month ago

What’s a forest, state asks planning board

Hindustan Times  

Months after the NCR Planning Board asked Haryana to identify forest areas before finalising its sub-regional plan, officials are still debating over the definition of ‘forest’. While the Supreme Court orders defining forest under the ministry of environment guidelines, the DC’s letter defines forest cover as discussed in a meeting with the NCR planning board. The minutes of the meeting …

No deviations, please
15 years, 6 months ago

No deviations, please

Hindustan Times  

In a potentially revolutionary move, the Ministry of Environment and Forests in July “invited the attention” of states to the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act 2006, and directed that its provisions be adhered to while considering any diversion of forest lands for development projects. In a bid to correct this anomaly, the MoEF has asked that states …

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