NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the central and state governments to refrain from any actions that would lead to a reduction in forest area across the country. The order comes amid concerns that amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act by the Centre have allegedly excluded 1.97 lakh square kilometers of land from being classified as forest.
A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and K. Vinod Chandran, while issuing a notice to the Centre on a petition challenging the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023, emphasized that no steps should be taken that would diminish forest land. The court also stated that if forest land must be used for urgent purposes, including strategic needs in border areas, compensatory land must be provided to maintain the overall forest cover.
“We further order that until further notice, no action shall be taken by the Union of India or any state that results in the reduction of forest land,” the bench stated.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions, including one filed by a group of retired Indian Forest Service officers, arguing that the amendment has left vast tracts of forest land vulnerable to non-forest use. The petitioners contended that the new legal framework “radically undermines India’s decades-old forest governance system” and contradicts previous Supreme Court rulings by narrowing the definition of forest land.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan and lawyer Kaushik Choudhury, representing the petitioners, argued that the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had introduced a statutory mechanism purportedly to increase tree cover. However, they warned that this mechanism prioritizes the easy diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes over conservation, exposing valuable forests to market-driven exploitation.
“The framework, developed through four regulatory instruments issued by the ministry, primarily aims to facilitate hassle-free diversion of forest land, with little regard for the adverse environmental impact,” they said.
Representing the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati assured the court that the government would respond to the petitioners’ concerns and sought three weeks’ time to do so. She also committed to submitting a status report on the declared forest area at the next hearing.
The petitioners further argued that the 2023 amendment weakens protections for India’s most vulnerable forests by restricting conservation efforts only to land officially notified as forest under the Indian Forest Act. This, they claimed, removes crucial safeguards that previously applied to vast tracts of forested land.
