SC Orders SITs To Probe Illegal Allotment Of Forest Land To Private Parties

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Last Updated:May 16, 2025, 06:57 IST

The states and UTs were besides directed to instrumentality steps to retrieve possession of specified lands and handover the aforesaid to the wood department.

Supreme Court Of India (Representative image)

The Supreme Court connected Thursday directed each states and national territories to represent peculiar probe teams to analyse if immoderate reserved wood onshore successful possession of the gross section was allotted to immoderate backstage parties for non-forestry purpose.

Noting the "glaring issue" successful which a immense agelong of notified wood onshore was inactive successful possession of the gross department, the apex tribunal asked each the states and UTs to manus implicit possession of specified lands to the wood department.

A seat of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices Augustine George Masih and K Vinod Chandran referred to a study of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) which pointed to grounds to amusement that galore wood lands were allotted to backstage persons oregon institutions for non-forestry purposes.

"We further nonstop the main secretaries of each the states and the administrators of each the Union Territories to represent peculiar probe teams for the intent of examining arsenic to whether immoderate of the reserved wood onshore successful the possession of the gross section has been allotted to immoderate backstage individuals/institutions for immoderate intent different than the forestry purpose," the seat said.

The states and UTs were besides directed to instrumentality steps to retrieve possession of specified lands and handover the aforesaid to the wood department.

"In case, it is recovered that taking backmost the possession of the onshore would not beryllium successful the larger nationalist interest, the authorities governments/Union Territories should retrieve the outgo of the said onshore from the persons/institutions to whom they were allotted and usage the said magnitude for the intent of improvement of forests," the seat said successful its 88-page verdict.

It besides directed the states and UTs to represent peculiar teams to guarantee that each specified transfers instrumentality spot wrong a year.

"Needless to authorities that hereinafter specified onshore should beryllium utilized lone for the intent of afforestation," the seat said.

The apical tribunal delivered its verdict successful a substance related to reserved wood onshore successful Pune.

The seat held that the allotment of 11.89 hectare of the reserved wood onshore successful colony Kondhwa Budruk successful Pune for agriculture purposes connected August 28, 1998 and consequent support fixed for its merchantability successful favour of Richie Rich Cooperative Housing Society Limited (RRCHS) connected October 30, 1999 was "totally illegal".

"We besides person nary hesitation to clasp that the past curate for gross and the past divisional commissioner, Pune, person fixed a full go-bye to the doctrine of nationalist spot inasmuch as, invaluable wood onshore was allotted to the ’Chavan family’ de hors the provisions of the law," it said.

The seat noted the onshore was allotted successful favour of 1 "Chavan family" successful 1998.

"The contiguous substance is simply a classical illustration arsenic to however the nexus betwixt the politicians, bureaucrats and the builders tin effect successful the conversion of precious wood onshore for commercialized purposes nether the garb of resettlement of radical belonging to the backward people from whose ancestors, cultivation onshore was acquired for nationalist purpose," it said.

The apical court, arsenic a result, quashed the biology clearance granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) connected July 3, 2007 to RRCHS.

The MoEF had granted biology clearance for operation of a residential, buying and IT complex.

The seat said since the authorities had recalled the connection of August 4, 1998 approving allotment of the onshore to "Chavan family" and it upheld the same.

It directed that possession of the taxable land, which is reserved arsenic a wood onshore but is successful possession of the gross department, should beryllium handed implicit to the wood section wrong 3 months.

The seat said for permitting immoderate non-forest enactment wrong the country of immoderate "forest", it was indispensable to person anterior support of the Central government.

The RRCHS, it noted, knowing precise good that the onshore was a wood land, entered into transactions with the members of the "Chavan family" overmuch anterior to the onshore adjacent being allotted successful their favour.

"The transactions betwixt the RRCHS and the members of the ’Chavan family’ were wholly amerciable and contrary to the conditions connected which the onshore was allotted to the ’Chavan family’," the seat said.

The "alarming speed" with which the events took spot from July to August 1998, the seat said, spoke volumes.

"We person nary hesitation successful holding that the past curate for revenue, authorities of Maharashtra and the past divisional commissioner, Pune, person acted wholly successful breach of nationalist spot to illegally origin summation to backstage individuals astatine the outgo of sacrificing precious wood land," the seat said.

It said the allotment of the taxable onshore to the "Chavan family" was successful blatant disregard to the provisions of the instrumentality arsenic it was violative of Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

Section 2 of the 1980 Act stipulates nary wood onshore tin beryllium de-reserved oregon utilized for immoderate non-forest purposes without the support of the Central government.

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