Haryana notifies forest definition per Supreme Court mandate in TN Godavarman case

As per the mandate of the Supreme Court judgment in TN Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India, the Haryana Government has notified the definition of forest. In a notification issued on August 18 by the Environment, Forest, and Wildlife Department of Haryana, the “Forest as per Dictionary Meaning” has been defined for the state.

The criteria will be that any patch of land shall be deemed to be “Forest as per Dictionary Meaning” if it fulfils the following conditions: (i) It has a minimum area of 5 hectares if it is in isolation; and a minimum area of 2 hectares if it is in contiguity with government-notified forests. (ii) It has a canopy density of 0.4 or more. The present definition will, however, exclude large tracts of land in the Aravallis as the canopy density of vegetation is less than 0.4.

“Provided that all linear/compact/agro-forestry plantations and orchards situated outside the government-notified forests shall not be treated as forest under the above definition,” added the notification.

Q1 What did the Supreme Court direct in the TN Godavarman matter?

On December 12, 1996, a Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice JS Verma and Justice BN Kirpal, had said that the term “forest land”, occurring in Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, will not only include “forest” as understood in the dictionary sense, but also any area recorded as forest in the government record, irrespective of the ownership.

It had directed all states to “identify areas which are ‘forests’, irrespective of whether they are notified, recognised or classified under any law, and irrespective of the ownership of the land of such forest”.

Q2 What directions were issued in the Ashok Kumar Sharma, Indian Forest Service (Retd) vs Union of India case?

A retired IFS officer, Ashok Kumar Sharma, has filed this petition, which challenges the constitutional validity of the Forest Conservation Amendment Act, 2023. It was submitted that while the dictionary meaning of the expression ‘forests’, which was adopted in the TN Godavarman case, provided a broad and an all-encompassing meaning to the expression, the amendment would exclude 1.97 lakh square kilometres of forests in the country. Otherwise, the forest in the country will cover approximately 7.13 lakh square kilometres.

Under Rule 16 of the amended Act, the state governments and the union territory administrations are required to prepare a consolidated record of such lands, including ‘forest like areas’ identified by the expert committee constituted for this purpose; ‘unclassed forest lands’; and ‘community forest lands’ to which the provisions of the amending Act would apply.

The bench comprising then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra ruled on February 19, 2024, “…we clarify that pending the completion of the exercise by the administrations of the state governments and the union territories under Rule 16 and pending these proceedings, the principles which are elucidated in the judgment of this Court in TN Godavarman must continue to be observed.”

The order added, “As a matter of fact, it is evident that Rule 16 includes within its ambit forest like areas to be identified by the expert committee, unclassed forest lands; and community forest lands. While being guided by the provisions of the statute and those contained in Rule 16, the state governments as well as union territory administrations shall peremptorily ensure compliance with the ambit of the expression ‘forest’ as explained in the decision in TN Godavarman.”

After that, Haryana took 18 months to notify the definition of forest.

Q3 What will be the next course of action?

The next course of action is to identify lands that fall under the definition. They can be private lands, community lands, or panchayat lands too. Two committees have been formed for the purpose. One is the district-level committee under the Deputy Commissioner, which will send the proposals. The state-level committee under the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Environment, Forest, and Wildlife Department, will look into those proposals and give its recommendations.

After the identification, the Chief Secretary will submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court.

Q4 What guidelines did the Supreme Court issue in the Lafarge case that need to be followed by the states?

In its order dated March 4 of this year in the Ashok Kumar Sharma, Indian Forest Service (Retd) vs Union of India case, the Supreme Court held that while identifying the lands under Rule 16, the state governments/union territories would also be bound to follow the guidelines as issued by the apex court in the case of Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited case, dated July 6, 2011.

The guidelines mandate for creation and regular updating of a GIS-based decision support database, tentatively containing inter alia the district-wise details of the location and boundary of “(i) each plot of land that may be defined as forest for the purpose of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; (ii) the core, buffer and eco-sensitive zone of the protected areas constituted as per the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972; (iii) the important migratory corridors for wildlife; and (iv) the forest land diverted for non-forest purpose in the past in the district”.

It added, “The Survey of India toposheets in digital format, the forest cover maps prepared by the Forest Survey of India in preparation of the successive State of Forest Reports and the conditions stipulated in the approvals accorded under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for each case of diversion of forest land in the district will also be part of the proposed decision support database.”