The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all states and union territories to constitute special investigation teams to examine if any reserved forest land in possession of the revenue department was allotted to any private parties for non-forestry purpose.
Noting the "glaring issue" in which a vast stretch of notified forest land was still in possession of the revenue department, the supreme court asked all the states and UTs to hand over possession of such lands to the forest department.
A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices Augustine George Masih and K Vinod Chandran referred to a report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) which pointed to evidence to show that many forest lands were allotted to private persons or institutions for non-forestry purposes.
"We further direct the chief secretaries of all the states and the administrators of all the Union Territories to constitute special investigation teams for the purpose of examining as to whether any of the reserved forest land in the possession of the revenue department has been allotted to any private individuals/institutions for any purpose other than the forestry purpose," the bench said.
The states and UTs were also directed to take steps to retrieve possession of such lands and handover the same to the forest department.
"In case, it is found that taking back the possession of the land would not be in the larger public interest, the state governments/Union Territories should recover the cost of the said land from the persons/institutions to whom they were allotted and use the said amount for the purpose of development of forests," the bench said in its 88-page verdict.
It also directed the states and UTs to constitute special teams to ensure that all such transfers take place within a year.
"Needless to state that hereinafter such land should be used only for the purpose of afforestation," the bench said.
The top court delivered its verdict in a matter related to reserved forest land in Pune.
The bench held that the allotment of 11.89 hectare of the reserved forest land in village Kondhwa Budruk in Pune for agriculture purposes on August 28, 1998 and subsequent permission given for its sale in favour of Richie Rich Cooperative Housing Society Limited (RRCHS) on October 30, 1999 was "totally illegal".
"We also have no hesitation to hold that the then minister for revenue and the then divisional commissioner, Pune, have given a total go-bye to the doctrine of public trust inasmuch as, valuable forest land was allotted to the 'Chavan family' de hors the provisions of the law," it said.
The bench noted the land was allotted in favour of one "Chavan family" in 1998.
"The present matter is a classic example as to how the nexus between the politicians, bureaucrats and the builders can result in the conversion of precious forest land for commercial purposes under the garb of resettlement of people belonging to the backward class from whose ancestors, agricultural land was acquired for public purpose," it said.
The top court, as a result, quashed the environmental clearance granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) on July 3, 2007 to RRCHS.
The MoEF had granted environmental clearance for construction of a residential, shopping and IT complex.
The bench said since the state had recalled the communication of August 4, 1998 approving allotment of the land to "Chavan family" and it upheld the same.
It directed that possession of the subject land, which is reserved as a forest land but is in possession of the revenue department, should be handed over to the forest department within three months.
The bench said for permitting any non-forest activity within the area of any "forest", it was necessary to have prior approval of the Central government.
The RRCHS, it noted, knowing very well that the land was a forest land, entered into transactions with the members of the "Chavan family" much prior to the land even being allotted in their favour.
"The transactions between the RRCHS and the members of the 'Chavan family' were totally illegal and contrary to the conditions on which the land was allotted to the 'Chavan family'," the bench said.
The "alarming speed" with which the events took place from July to August 1998, the bench said, spoke volumes.
"We have no hesitation in holding that the then minister for revenue, government of Maharashtra and the then divisional commissioner, Pune, have acted totally in breach of public trust to illegally cause gain to private individuals at the cost of sacrificing precious forest land," the bench said.
It said the allotment of the subject land to the "Chavan family" was in blatant disregard to the provisions of the law as it was violative of Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
Section 2 of the 1980 Act stipulates no forest land can be de-reserved or used for any non-forest purposes without the permission of the Central government.
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