New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued a significant directive restraining the Centre and state governments from taking any steps that would reduce forest areas without compensatory measures.
A bench, comprising Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran, was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the 2023 amendments to the Forest Conservation Law.
“We will not permit anything which leads to a reduction of forest area. Until further orders, no steps shall be taken by the Union of India or any state that would lead to such reduction unless compensatory land is provided,” the bench emphasized.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, assured the court that a response to the applications would be filed within three weeks, along with a status report before the next hearing on March 4.
The petitions argue that the amendments narrow the legal definition of “forest” by requiring land to be either notified as a forest or recorded as such in government documents.
This, the petitioners claim, excludes nearly 1.99 lakh square kilometres of forest land from conservation safeguards.
In a previous interim order, the court had mandated that any proposals for establishing zoos or safaris on forest land outside protected areas would require Supreme Court approval.
The court directed state governments and Union Territories to provide forest land details to the Centre, which the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change was instructed to publish.
The bench emphasized adherence to the ” forest ” definition in the landmark 1996 judgment in T N Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India.
The petitioners contended that the 2023 amendments diluted this expansive definition, undermining forest protection.
The Centre introduced the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill on March 27, 2023, and has since faced constitutional challenges seeking its nullification.
