a critical appraisal of conservation) act

8/8/2019 A Critical Appraisal of Conservation) Act

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KIIT LAW SCHOOL

Environmental Law

-Topic-

A critical appraisal of Forest (Conservation)Act,1980

Submitted By:

Sarvajeet Kumar Sinha

Roll-782020

B.B.A.LL.B

7th

Semester

Under the Guidance of:

Asst.Prof. Ananya Chakraborti


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I hereby thank my teachers, friends and well wishers and all the members of the KIIT LAW

SCHOOL, who have been constantly helping me by giving their invaluable suggestion for

improvement of my project. However, the mistakes, deficiencies if any are my own. Finally, I

wish to extend my deepest gratitude to Asst.Prof. Ananya Chakraborti for her constant support

and encouragement.

Dt. 2/11/2010

Bhubaneswar Sarvajeet Kumar Sinha


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Introduction

Deforestation is the general problem the world and for India in particular. In India large scale

deforestation is mainly is rooted in the commercially oriented forest use and ownership policies

of the British government which continued even after India gained independence in 1947.

The other major causes of deforestation immediately after independence was agricultural

expansion, often state-sponsored. In more recent times it is new policies and programmes of

development; rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and growing consumerism that have resulted

in the wide scale destruction of the forests.

Reason for checking the Deforestation

Deforestation is a main environmental concern in the world. Deforestation includes the cutting

down, burning, and destructing of forests. Numerous researches suggests that deforestation may

be the first link in a chain of environment degradation that includes erosion, climatic changes,

loss of biodiversity and genetic endowment, air pollution, decline in watershed functions, and the

apparent loss of hardwood, fuel wood, and aesthetic stocks.

To curb the menace of deforestation the The Forest (Conservation) Act, was passed on 25th

October,1980.

Shift of policy making on Forest from State Government to Union

Government

Forest was initially a state subject covered by Entry 19 in List II of the schedule. In 1976 under

the 42nd

Constitutional Amendment the entry was deleted and entry 17-A in the concurrent list

was inserted. The changed from the state list to the concurrent list was brought about the

following the realization of the central government that forest were of national importance and

should be placed in the concurrent list to enable the central government to deal with the matter.

Important provision of Forest (conservation)Act,1980

Section 2 Restriction on the dereservation of forests or use of forest land for non-forest purpose

As per this section , no state government without the prior approval of the central government

can make an order directing

1. Any reserve forest or any part to cease to be reserve i.e. to unreserve it


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2. To allow any forest land or any part of it for the non-forest purpose3. To lease any forest land or part of it to any private person or to any authority,

corporation, agency or any other organisation not owned, managed or controlled by

Government.

4. that any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grownnaturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for reafforestation.

The non-forest purpose here means the breaking up or clearing of any forest land or

portion thereof for-

(a) the cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber, palms, oil-bearing plants, horticultural

crops or medicinal plants;

(b) any purpose other than reafforestation;

but does not include any work relating or ancillary to conservation, development andmanagement of forests and wildlife, namely, the establishment of check-posts, fire lines,

wireless communications and construction of fencing, bridges and culverts, dams,

waterholes, trench marks, boundary marks, pipelines or other like purposes.

Section 3A. Penalty for contravention of the provisions of the Act.

As per this section Whoever contravenes or abets the contravention of any of the provisions of

Section 2, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a period which may extend to

fifteen days.

Section 3B. Offences by the Authorities and Government Departments

This section deals with offences committed by the authorities and government departments.

Whenever there is the offence committed under this act by any head of the department of the

government then head of the department and in case by any authority then any every person who

at the time of the offence was committed, was directly in charge of, and was responsible to, the

authority for the conduct of the business of the authority as well as the authority .

This section also includes punishment for the neglect on the part of the officer

Defense

If the head of the department can prove that the offence was committed without its prior

knowledge or even after taking due diligence to prevent the commission of offence then he

cannot be charged for the offence.


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Forest (conservation) Rules 2003

As per Rule 6 (3)( e) Specific time limit for States and Central Govt. for expeditious processing

of proposals are

1.

90/60 days for State Governments for fresh/renewal cases and2. 60 days for Central Government

Critical Appraisal

The positive outcomes of this act are as follows:-

1. This act clearly laid down what are the use of land for forest purposes and what is meantfor non forest purposes. By this how state governments and companies cannot use the

forest land for non forest land in the veil of forest purpose. The provision of the Forest

(conservation) Act,1980 provide for the conservations of the forest and for matters

connected therewith ancillary or incidental thereto. Any forest land or portion thereof

cannot be used for any non-forest purposes are assigned by way of lease or otherwise to

any private person or to any authority,corporation,agency or any other organization not

owned, managed or controlled by the government, except the with the prior approval of

the central government.

2. After the enactment of this act, land diversion for the non forest purpose has droppedremarkably. During 1950-80 the rate of diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes

was 1,50,000 hectares per annum . After enactment of the FC Act, 1980, the rate ofdiversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes came down to about 35,000 ha per

annum.1

3. Under this act, there is clear procedure laid down for the transfer of forest land for thenon forest purpose. Hence it imparts transparency in the transfer of forest land by the

state.

4. The Forest (conservation) Act,1980 apply to all forest irrespective of the nature ofownership or classification thereof

2. It means this Act applies uniformly to all forest i.e.

reserve forest, village forest and protected forest. Hence it helps in the conservation of

all types of forests.

1http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2000/rjun2000/r20062000.html

2T.N.Godavaram Thirumulpad v. Union of India, (2006) 5 SCC 28


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Some loopholes and defects in this Act are follows:-

1. This act goes against the principle of absolute liability for damage caused toenvironment.

3As per section 3 B ,if mensrea is not proved in the offence committed

by the head of the department or in case of authority , person in charge under this act

then he will be not punished.

2. The quantum of punishment under this act is much less than the required. TheWhoever contravenes or abets the contravention of any of the provisions of Section 2

of the Act shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a period which may

extend to fifteen days.

3.

This Act has reserved all the rights to the central government regarding the use offorest and deprived the rights of the people ( e.g. village people regarding the use of

village forest, etc. ) which were given to them under Indian Forest Act, 1927

4. This Act has also not provided any rights to the indigenous people , schedule tribeand forest dwellers on the use forest and its resources. They play the prominent and

vital role in conserving the forest as they are fully dependent upon the forest and its

resources for their livelihood. they have the symbiotic relationship with the forest.

5. This act does not provide extent up to what limit the Central Government can allowthe transfer of forest land for the non forest purpose. It is upon the sweet will of the

central government up to which it may think there can be transfer of transfer of forest

land even though it may led to the overall existence of that forest reserve .

Conclusion

It is humbly submitted that this act is not a good act for the conservation of the forest. It only

regulating and authorizing the transfer of forest land for the non forest purposes.. It is not more

than the legalizing and licensing the wrong acts by the central government. This act is the same

story of development and commercialization of forest v. conservation of forest, wild life and its

resources. This act provides a escape through to the industrialist to use the forest resources like

mining, quarrying of stone, etc in the forest by the consent of the central government.

In my view there should be strict restriction on the use of forest land for any other non forest

purpose till we achieve the our national goal of having one third of land in the plan under the

forest cover and in the hilly and mountain region there should be the two third of the forest

cover.4

Without the stern and strict action this goal cannot be achieved as there is no end to the

3The Oleum Gas leaked case ,M.C. Mehta v. Union of India and others, AIR 1987 SC 1086

4As laid down in National Forest Policy,1988


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human wants and desire. If there would not be check on this then that day is not far away that we

will loss our all forest which are the green lungs to our mother earth.

a critical appraisal of conservation) act

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