FOREST (CONSERVATION) ACT,1980 ;NEED TO STRIKE BALANCE BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT SRI SANJAY KUMAR SINHA PARTICIPANT, MCT, BIHAR Abstract There has been a continuous demand for forest land for various purposes of developmental work. This insatiable demand of forest land in the past, had a reduction in its area, since 1947 which continued till 1980. The enactment of forest conservation act 1980 has limited the diversion. This act restricted the liberal use of forest land to an inescapable necessity. With the various judgements of the Supreme Court of India, this Act is nowinterpreted in a better manner. The Supreme Court has extended the concept of public trust doctrine to natural resources like forests,interpreting that this public property should be utilized only for public purposes. KEY WORDS FORESTS, CONSERVATION, DEVELOPMENT, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,
INTRODUCTION Achieving the delicate balance between conservation & development can be a long and difficult process. There are no easy solutions and compromise and difficult choices are perhaps inevitale.the F C Act 1980 is one such measure to stike a balance between conservation & development.the management of forest during last 150 yrs can be represented as follows- Conservation up to 1900 Production - 1900-1980 MainReasons i) Increase in population ii) Shifting to agriculture iii) Industrialization / urbanization etc Conservation- 1980 to date Need for the Act / Reasons for enactment Indiscriminate release of land for development projects Release of encroached lands for political reasons During the period 1951-80, 4.328 million hectares of forest land were diverted to non-forest use. i.e. Annual rate of such diversion- 1.5 lakhs Ha Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (Amendment made in 1988) Came into force on 25.10 1980 A commitment of the Central Govt. to the cause of Environmental conservation and sustainable Development. Environmental degradation and ecological imbalances due to large scale deforestation should be prevented - is the essence of the Preamble of FC Act 1980
(Ambica Quarry vs State of Guj (AIR) 1987 ) Objective- (i) An Act to provide for the Conservation of forests. (ii) Judicious use of forest land for non-forestry purposes Purpose- Whenever any user agency requires forest land for non-forestry purpose, the prior approval of Central Govt. is essential. One of shortest Act. 1.Title 2.Restriction on dereservation 3.Constitution of Advisory Committee 3(a). Penalty for contravention of the provision of Act. -Imprisonment up to 15 days. 3(b). Offences by authorities and Govt. departments - head of department responsible, unless he proves contravention was without his knowledge. 4. Power to make Rules. - Forest (Conservation) Rules 1981 - FC Rule 2003 - FC Amendment Rules 2004 5. Repeal and saving. - Sec. 3A and 3B inserted in 1988. ** Act is not PROHIBITORY but REGULATORY. it only aims at rational use of forest land SOME FACTS After enactment, the rate of diversion of forest land was brought down from 1.5 lakh ha per annum to 35000 ha. During 1980-2006. A. No of Proposal received- 18590 No of proposal approved- 13892
No of proposal not approved- 1505 No. of incomplete / Pending - 3000 (appox) with state / Central Govt. B. Total Land diverted-11.09 Lakh Ha. Lakh. Ha. i) Encroachment Regularisation - 3.68 ii) Drinking Water / School- 2.24 iii) Defense- 1.21 Mining- 1.08 Irrigation- 1.04 Others (Railway,Transmission line,road etc.) 2.14 21.64% Others (Rehabilitation, Drinking Water, School, Hospital Rural Elec. etc.) (2.403 Lakh ha) 0.63% Railway (0.07 Lakh ha) 9.91% Hydel (1.1 Lakh ha) 0.36% Thermal (0.04 Lakh ha) 2.34% Transmission Line (0.26 Lakh ha) 9.73% Mining (1.08 Lakh ha) 0.09% Wind Power (0.01 Lakh ha) 9.37% Irrigation (1.04 Lakh ha) 33.14% Encroachment Regularization (3.68 Lakh ha) 1.89% Road (0.21 Lakh ha) 10.90% Defence (1.21 Lakh ha)
Delegation of powers * The GOI created Six Regional officer at Banglore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow, shillong and chandigarh for effective enforcement and monitoring of F.C. Act. ** up to 1 Ha- State Govt. Delegated up to 31.12.13 ** up to 5 Ha (LWE Dist.) up to 31.12.15 ** up to 40 Ha- Regional offices * up to 5 Ha (except mining & encroachment cases) finally decided * 5 to 40 Ha Processed by R.O * *Above 40 Ha- MOEF, GOI * Site inspection is mandatory for 100 Ha. FLOW CHART i) The user agency can collect the application form from D.F.O / Nodal officer s office. FORM A- Proposal seeking first time approval. FORM B- Proposal seeking renewal of leases. ii) The form, complete in all respect, is submitted to nodal officer along with requisite information and documents. iii) Nodal Officer shall Issue a receipt to the user agency. i) The nodal officer, on being satisfied that the proposal is complete, shall send to the proposal to the concerned DFO within a period of 10 days of the receipt of the proposal. ii) If the Proposal is incomplete, the nodal officer shall return it within the period of 10 days. iv) The user agency shall endorse a copy of the proposal, alongwith the copy of recept, to the R.O as well as monitoring cell of forest conservation Division of MOEF, New Delhi. v) After having receipt the proposal, the State Govt. / UT shall process and forward it to the Central Govt. within a period of 210 days of the receipt of proposal.
PROPOSAL Submitted to Nodal Officer After issuing recipt by Nodal Officer Concerned DFO C F With recommendation Nodal officer with recommendatory PCCF With Comments, recommendations state Govt. With Comments, recommendations Regional officers, GOI (up to 40 ha) MOEF, GOI (above 40 ha) Up to 5 Ha (except mining & encroachment cases) finally decided by R.O 5 to 40 Ha & all cases of mining & encroachment up to 40 Ha processed by R.O & send to MOEF, GOI
Requisites documents for submission of Proposal i) Map of forest area required on 1:50,000 scale original SOI toposheet. if map on 1:50,000 scale not available, map on 1 =1mile or 1 = 4 mile. ii) Species wise and diameter class wise abstract of trees to be felled should be furnished. Total enumeration is necessary up to 10 hectares of area. iii) The Govt. order of Sanction of the project in case of Govt. Project. iv) Proposal in piecemeal should not be a submitted v) Inspection report of the user agency and the concerned DFO-------- no alternative land is available and the proposed forest land is minimum. vi) Compensatory Afforestation Scheme. vii) The Certificate of acceptance by the user agency of the condition imposed by the State Govt. & GOI. viii) The Cost- Benefit Analysis- where ever applicable ix) Rehabilitation Plan- where ever applicable x) I B M approved Plan- where ever applicable xi) Clearance from Environmental Angle- where ever applicable xii) Catchments Area Treatment Plan- where ever applicable Two Stage clearance I st stage In principle clearance stipulates conditions 2 nd Stage- Final clearance after meeting the conditions laid down in first stage. Definition of Forest... the term forest land occurring in section 2, 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.... [ S.C orders dated 12.12.96 in W.P no 202 / 95] Important Guidelines Issued by MOEF
F.C Act clearance necessary if final order for deforestation/divertion is not issued before 25.11.80 If a project involves forest as well as non-forest land, work should not be started on non- forest land till approval of Central Govt. under F.C Act. Compenstory Affoestation (C.A) C A shall be done over equivalent area of non- forest land. ownership to be transferred to the forest department to be declared as RF/ PF If non-forest land non-available, CA to be done over twice the area in degraded forest land. Certificate of non-available to be given by the Chief Secretary. Spl. provision for Central Govt. / Central Govt. undertaking projects. C A may be raised on degraded forest land twice in extend of forest area being diverted. Net present value (NPV) -Includes all values from the forest that would have accrued over the next 50 yrs at Present value. Bihar I st state to impose NPV in 1991 Hon ble S.C has extended NPV for the entire country (order dated 30.10.02 in I.A.566) Rs. 5.8 to 9.2 lakh per hectare depending on quality of forests. NPV will also be charged in all those cases where stage I clearance has been granted after 30.10.02 and final approval has also been granted. NPV (Bihar) GOB on 13.4.04 revised NPV rate as per direction of Hon ble S.C (In lakh Rs.) Scrub forest (veg. density < 0.1 ) 5.8 per Ha Open forest (density 0.1-0.4) 7.0 per Ha Dense forest (density >0.4) 9.2 per Ha
Protect Arcas (N.P / S) 9.2 per Ha GOB in 2008 Revised NPV rate as per direction of Hon ble S.C (Dated- 28.3.2008 and 09.05.2008) on the basis of eco class 4.38 lakh to 10.43 lakh per hac for NP 10 times, Sancturary 5 times CAMPA (Compensator Afforestation Management and Planning Agency) Hon ble S.C ordered the creation of CAMPA constituted on 23.4.04 All receipt of CA, NPV will be deposited in CAMPA CAMPA will release the funds to the state Govt. for forestry development. CAMPA- Effect Earlier funds remained with the State Govt. Earlier state Govt. was at the liberty to exempt projects from payment of N.P.V. General approval under sec.2 of FCA A. Central govt. accorded general approval with conditions for the following activities i) School ii) Dispensary / Hospital iii) Electric and telecommunication lines iv) Drinking water v) Water / Rainwater vi) Minor irrigation canal vii) Non-conventional Sources of energy viii) Skill up-gradation / vocational training Center ix) Power sub-stations x) Communication posts xi) Police establishments like police stations / outposts / border outposts /watch towers in sensitive areas (identified by Ministry of Home affair) *Not applicable in case of NP / S **General approval is granted up to 31.12.2013
Rejection of proposal For rejection of the proposal, except of the Central Govt. and its organization approval of the Central Govt. is not required. [ MOEF S letter no dated18.11.2002] Selected orders passed by Hon ble S.C in W.P no 202 / 95 & W.P no. 337/95 (A) *...In the meantime, we restrain respondents from ordering the removal of dead, diseased, dying or wind-fallen trees, drift wood and grasses etc. from any N.P or game Sanctuary (Dated 14.2.2000 and 21.2.2000 in I.A no 548 in WP no 202/95) ** Pending further orders, no deresvation of forests/ Sanctuaries / national parks shall be effected. (Dated 13.11.2000 in I.A no-2 in WP no 337 / 95) This order was re-iterated by the S.C on 9.2.04 in IA NO 16. *** Before obtaining permission from GOI under the F.C. Act, the prior permission has to be taken from Hon ble S.C & NBWL (after obtaining the opinion of the State Govt. & the State Board of W.L.) (B) S.C restrained Railway from using wooden sleepers. Railway may use wooden sleepers manufactured only from imported wood from other countries [Order dated 18.2.02 in I.A no 598, 680] (C). S.C order dated-5.2.05 in I.A NO 993 We accept the following recommendations of the CEC i) The MOEF s order dated 20.8.02 allowing mining leases inside the Valmiki wildlife Sanctuary may be set aside. ii) The State of Bihar may be directed to ensure immediate closure of all mining activities inside the N.Ps and W.L. Sanctuaries including within the safety zone around the boundaries of the NPs and Sanctuaries. iii) The MOEF may be directed to ensure that no mining lease inside any N.Ps / W.L. Sanctuaries is approved under the F.C.Act without obtaining specific permission
from this Hon ble Court in view of the order dated 14.2.2000 passed in I.A. no.- 548.
LESSION Achieving conservation does not gurantee development and achieving development does not gurantee the long term sustainability of the world s natural resources. It is time to strike a balance between conservation & development. Poverty alleviation programmes require developmental activities at a faster pace while the complexities of environment & changing climate cautions us to strike a balance between development &conservation. Hence F C Act 1980 is first step in right direction to strike a balance between conservation & development. SAVE TREE THANK YOU