The Supreme Court instructed the government on Monday to go on with the dictionary interpretation of the term "forest", as defined in the Supreme Court ruling of 1996 in the case of T.N. Godavraman Thirumulpad case before a final decision comes up relating to a petition that demanded changes to be made in the Forest Conservation Act of 2023. The court has also instructed the government that by April, the government should release a comprehensive record of land that is considered a "forest" by the Union Territories and the States of the country.
Let's understand every bit of the story. Before moving forward, it becomes necessary to know a bit about the Forest Conservation Act.
Understanding a bit about the Forest Conservation Act
It was in the year 1980 when the Forest Conservation Act came into force. The idea of bringing up the Forest Conservation Act was to cease the razing of forests. Between the year 1951 and the year 1975, over four million hectares of land of the forests were actually redirected. Nonetheless, after the implementation of the Act, there came a strong drop in the average yearly diversion to about 22,000 hectares. This rate was about one-tenth of the previous redirection rate, as per the information given by the Centre.
The regulations outlined in this legislation, however, were primarily related to the parts of forest land that are either listed by the states in the records since the year 1980 or fall under the Indian Forest Act. The illegal timber felling in the region of Gudalur, Tamil Nadu, was actually the reason for the landmark judgment of the Godavarman Thirumulpad by the Supreme Court in the year 1996. As per the ruling, the protection of forests irrespective of their ownership status or official classification was made mandatory. The ruling brought forward the idea of "deemed forests". These are regions that resemble forests but are actually not officially designated as one in the records of revenue of the government.
Nearly three decades after this landmark ruling by the Supreme Court, the term "forests" has been interpreted by the states diversely. The way the term "forests" is interpreted encompasses the wide array of types of forests and plant species in the country.
These different definitions of the term "deemed forests" have led the estimation of the territorial extent of the states in the country to vary greatly.
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The Centre tried to amend the FCA recently. What was the purpose?
Recently, the Centre tried to make changes to the Forest Conservation Act. The purpose of making these amendments was to bring about the much-needed "clarity".
Another significant change proposed by the amendments was to exclude certain lands deemed as forests from protection. Such land areas included the land patches adjacent to roads or rail lines.
Moreover, forest lands that fall under 100 kilometers of international borders, the Line of Actual Control, and the Line of Control, which need clearance for national linear projects, would also be considered beyond the protected area. Additionally, the forest land patches that are considered essential for the construction of security-related infrastructure, which total up to ten hectares would also be exempted from protection. As per the government, these exemptions are actually important to foster the basic infrastructure development in the country, specifically in the tribal areas. Additionally, the government is of the view that effective forest protection by local communities makes it necessary to build livelihood opportunities through activities like zoos, safaris, ecotourism, and more.
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