Supreme Court Directs All States & UTs To Handover Possession Of ‘Forest Lands’ Held By Revenue Department To Forest Department
The Supreme Court directed Chief Secretaries of all the States and the Administrators of all the Union Territories to constitute Special Investigation Teams for examining whether any of the reserved Forest Land in possession of the Revenue Department has been allotted to any private individuals/institutions.
CJI B.R. Gavai, Justice Augustine George Masih, Justice K. Vinod Chandran, Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has directed all the State Governments and the Union Territories to hand over the possession of the lands which are recorded as ‘Forest Land’ being in possession of the Revenue Department, to the Forest Department.
The Court was deciding a case in which the alleged nexus between the Politicians, Bureaucrats and the Builders resulted 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.
The three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, Justice Augustine George Masih, and Justice K. Vinod Chandran observed, “… it is necessary that a direction needs to be issued to all the State Government and the Union Territories to hand over the possession of the lands which are recorded as ‘Forest Land’ and which are in possession of the Revenue Department to the Forest Department.”
The Bench added that many of the Forest Lands have been allotted to private individuals/institutions for non-forestry purposes and any such allotment after December 12, 1996, i.e., the date on which the directions were given by the Court in the proceedings, would not be sustainable in law.
Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shekhar Naphade, Aniruddha Joshi, K. Parameshwar (Amicus Curiae), Advocates M.V. Mukunda, Kanti, Raji Gururaj, and Shreenivas Patil appeared for the parties.
Case Background
An area admeasuring 32 Acres 35 Gunthas at Survey No. 20 of Village Kondhwa Budruk in Pune District was notified as a Reserved Forest under the provisions of Section 34 of the Indian Forest Act, 1878 vide a Notification in 1879. A portion of the land admeasuring 3 Acres 20 Gunthas was de-reserved by the State Government vide a Notification in 1934. No further orders for de-reservation were passed post 1934 as a result of which the remaining area of 29 Acres and 15 Gunthas, remained to be a Forest Land. During the 1960s, a different parcel of land belonging to one ‘Chavan Family’ was acquired by the State Government for the purposes of construction of “Dr. Bandorwala Leprosy Hospital”. It was claimed that no compensation was paid to the ‘Chavan Family’.
As such, a request was made by them for allotment of the subject land as an alternative for their resettlement. In response to the request made by the ‘Chavan Family’, the Tehsildar, Haveli vide his communication, released the subject land to the ‘Chavan Family’ for cultivation for a period of one year. The subject land was allotted on ‘Eksali’ (yearly) basis for the year 1968-69. The said allotment was accepted by the ‘Chavan Family’ and the said yearly lease was never renewed thereafter. In 1969, the State Government took a decision that the Forest Land given on lease for cultivation on Eksali basis should be permanently released for cultivation to the Eksali leaseholders after de-reservation. In pursuance of this resolution, the ‘Chavan Family’ made an application for permanent release of the subject land in the year 1988. In the meanwhile, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 came into force with effect from October 25, 1980.
Under the provisions of Section 2 of the 1980 FC Act, no Forest Land could be de-reserved or used for any non-forest purposes without the permission of the Central Government. It was alleged that there was a lot of inter-departmental correspondence between the different authorities. Surprisingly, the Divisional Commissioner observed that there is no necessity to obtain the prior approval of the Central Government for allotment of the land. The District Collector, Pune thereafter granted permission for use of the subject land for Non-Agricultural purposes i.e., for construction of the residential buildings. Then the Pune Municipal Corporation issued a Commencement Certificate and sanctioned the Building Plan. The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) granted environmental clearance for construction of “Raheja Richmond Park”, a Residential, Shopping and IT Complex. Such allotment was challenged by a person before the Apex Court.
Court’s Observations
The Supreme Court in the above context of the case, said, “After the 1980 FC Act came into effect, no Forest Land could have been de-reserved without the permission of the Central Government. It is to be noted that though the reliance is placed by the RRCHS on the Gazette Notification dated 9th March 1944 to contend that the said subject land was de-reserved, on an enquiry conducted by the Additional Superintendent of Police State CID under the orders of this Court, the said Gazette Notification is found to be fabricated.”
The Court noted that the decision of the State Government of allotting the land and implementing the same by the Collector is not at all sustainable in law and held that the allotment of the land in favour of the ‘Chavan Family’ vide orders in 1998, is not sustainable in law.
“In the present case, the legislative history would clearly show that, right from 1878, when the 1878 Act was enacted, under Section 34 of the said Act, the law with regard to protection and conservation of forest has been consistently evolving more and more in favour of protection of forests”, it further remarked.
The Court was of the opinion that in any case, nothing has been brought on record to show that a practice contrary to the provisions of the Act was being applied.
“The fact that the agricultural land of the ‘Chavan Family’ was acquired, was being misused by the Developers as a pretext for grabbing the valuable piece of Forest Land for the purposes of commercial development. For doing so, even the status of a person who belongs to backward class was being misused”, it also observed.
Moreover, the Court held 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.
“… we have no hesitation to hold that the allotment of the subject land to the ‘Chavan Family’ was in blatant disregard to the provisions of the law inasmuch as it was violative of Section 2 of the 1980 FC Act as well as the directions issued by this Court from time to time. We also hold that the allotment of the subject land was made, ignoring the communications of the Forest Department which had insisted that the said land could not be allotted inasmuch as, the same was classified as a Forest Land. 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 further held.
The Court said that wherever it is possible to take back the possession of such land, the State/Union Territory should do so and hand over the possession to the Forest Department for forestry purposes.
“However, if on account of such lands already being converted for non-forest activities, it is found that taking back the possession of the land would not be in the larger public interest, then the States/Union Territories should recover the cost of the land from such individuals/institutions and use the said amount for the purpose of afforestation, restoration and conservation”, it also clarified.
Court’s Directions
The Court, therefore, issued the following directions –
• The 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 a period of three months;
• Chief Secretaries of all the States and the Administrators of all the Union Territories shall 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 State Governments and the Union Territories shall take steps to take back the possession of the land from the persons/institutions in possession of such lands and handover the same to the Forest Department.
• Chief Secretaries of all the States and the Administrators of all the Union Territories shall constitute Special Teams to ensure that all such transfers take place within a period of one year. Such land should be used only for the purpose of afforestation.
Accordingly, the Apex Court disposed of the Writ Petition and Interlocutory Applications.
Cause Title- In Re: T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad v. Union of India & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 701)
