New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court order passed while hearing pleas against the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023 and said it was a “stinging rebuke” to the Modi government’s systematic efforts to dilute the institutions as well as regulatory systems for ecological conservation in the country.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all the states and Union Territories to constitute within a month expert committees for preparing a consolidated record of lands, including forest-like areas, unclassed and community forest lands.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih said the expert committee shall complete within six months the exercise as required under Rule 16 (1) of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023 was among the most draconian laws introduced by the Union government. Ever since it was introduced and bulldozed through Parliament, the Congress and I have taken a consistent stand against this law.”
The Supreme Court on March 4 upheld the landmark Supreme Court judgment in T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad versus Union of India in December 1996 which ruled that the definition of forests would be understood by its “broad and all-encompassing” dictionary meaning, he said.
“It effectively overturns one of the most deleterious provisions introduced by the Modi Government’s amendment to the Forest Act in 2023, which restricts the definition of ‘forest’ to the categories of notified forests and areas recorded in government records as forests on or after October 25, 1980,” Ramesh said.
The Modi government’s amendments would have attempted to limit the total coverage of forests in the country to about 7.13 lakh sq km, excluding an additional 1.97 lakh sq km that would be included under forests by the dictionary definition of the word, he said.
“The Court has even cracked down on States and UTs that have failed to implement the Rules of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023. It has warned that it will hold Chief Secretaries of the States personally liable if they fail to constitute these committees within a month and prepare a consolidated record of these lands within the next six months,” he said.
“This is a welcome development and a stinging rebuke to the Modi Government’s systematic efforts to dilute the institutions and regulatory systems for ecological conservation in the country,” Ramesh said.
However, the Congress leader said the Supreme Court’s intervention only undoes the second issue he had raised in his statement in August 2023 regarding the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act.
There is a lot more that has to be done to undo the full extent of the damage done by the government, Ramesh said.
He also posted on X his 2023 statement in which the Congress had alleged that the manner in which the forest bill has been “bulldozed” in Parliament reflects the Modi government’s mindset and the “vast gap that exists between its global talk and domestic walk” on issues of environment, forests and tribal rights.
In its order on March 4, the Supreme Court bench noted that rule 16 (1) required all the state governments and Union Territories to prepare a consolidated record of such lands, including forest-like areas identified by the expert committee, unclassed forest lands and community forest lands to which the provisions of the 2023 forest conservation law would be applicable.
The bench observed that once the exercise, as required to be done under rule 16 (1) was complete, it would lead to the resolution of many issues.
