The Supreme Court has directed all the State Governments and the Union Territories to hand over the possession of lands recorded as ‘Forest Land,’ being in possession of the Revenue department, to the Forest department, within three months.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justice Augustine George Masih and Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the verdict on a writ petition alleging that a nexus between the builders, bureaucrats and politicians 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, the agricultural land was acquired for public purpose.
Terming it a ‘glaring issue,’ the Court directed the Chief Secretaries of all the States and the Administrators of all the Union Territories to constitute Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to examine 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.
In case, taking back the possession of the land was not possible in the larger public interest, on account of such lands already being converted for non-forest activities, the states/UTs 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 added.
All the state governments and the Union Territories were directed to 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.
The Bench further ordered the Chief Secretaries of all the States and the Administrators of all the Union Territories to 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, it added.