The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken suo motu cognizance of the challenges faced by Pune Forest Department in reclaiming 14,000 hectares of land currently held by Revenue Department.
The petition is registered suo-motu on the basis of the news item dated 28.08.2024.
As per the article, earlier policies resulted in large scale transfers of forest land, but negligence resulted in encroachment over time. The forest department is now struggling to regain its land and prevent it from future encroachment.
The article explains that the issue has historical roots, dating back to the British era when forest and defense departments owned the majority of the land. In 1978, the Indian government ordered the Forest Department to transfer some land to the Revenue Department for administration, town planning, and agriculture. Unfortunately, due to incomplete documentation during subsequent land transfers, some portions of forest land were encroached upon. Over time, both the forest and revenue departments neglected this land.
The article alleges that with decreasing forest cover and increasing land disputes, the central government in the early 2000s once again ordered the Forest Department to identify reserve forest land and mark it to prevent future encroachment/misuse. Accordingly, the Forest Department began the identification of reserve forest land in 2008.
The article highlights that the Pune Forest Department has identified over 30,000 hectares of reserve forest land, successfully reclaiming 20,000 hectares from the Revenue Department. However, approximately 14,000 hectares of reserve forest land still remain with the Revenue Department. However, the reclamation of land includes several challenges like litigation, existing encroachments, and lease proposals. Furthermore, in certain areas, permanent settlements like buildings and slums have been established on the forest land. Evicting people from these settlements is difficult, as alternative land must be provided for relocation. Sometimes, land initially allocated for agricultural purposes is later utilized for commercial or residential use. This further complicates the efforts to reclaim forest land. Also, the terrain (including hilly and uneven areas) and disputed land pose difficulties.
The above news item indicated Bench violation of the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
The news item raises substantial issue relating to compliance with environmental norms and implementation of the provisions of scheduled enactment.
“Power of the Tribunal to take up the matter in suo-motu exercise of power has been recognized by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of “Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai vs. Ankita Sinha & Ors.” reported in 2021 SCC Online SC 897.”
Hence, the Principal Bench of Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Dr. A. Senthil Vel impleaded the following as respondents in the matter:
(i) Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Maharashtra.
(ii) Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
(iii) District Magistrate, Pune.
The Bench issued notice to the Respondents.
Since the matter relates to the Western Zonal Bench, Pune, therefore, the Bench transferred the matter to the Western Zonal Bench for appropriate further action.Office is directed by the NGT to transfer the original record to the Western Zonal Bench and the matter is listed on 04.11.2024.
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