Declaring a Sanctuary, and Settling the Rights Inside It

In one line

A notification of intention, a Collector who determines every right, an acquisition on land acquisition terms, and only then the sanctuary.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 18 empowers the State Government to declare its intention to constitute as a sanctuary any area other than one comprised within a reserve forest or the territorial waters, if it considers the area of adequate ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, natural or zoological significance for protecting, propagating or developing wild life or its environment; section 19 requires the Collector to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of the rights of any person in or over the land; section 24 requires him to admit or reject each claim and then either exclude the land, acquire the land or rights on the compensation the 2013 Act provides, or allow the right to continue in consultation with the Chief Wild Life Warden; and section 26A is the final declaration.

The two-stage declaration

Stage one, section 18. A notification of intention, specifying as nearly as possible the situation and limits of the area. The Explanation permits the area to be described by roads, rivers, ridges or other well-known or readily intelligible boundaries.

What section 18 cannot reach. An area comprised within a reserve forest or the territorial waters is outside sub-section (1); such areas come in at the second stage, under section 26A(1)(b). The reason is that rights in a reserved forest have already been settled under the Indian Forest Act, so a second settlement would be pointless.

Stage two, section 26A. The State Government issues a notification specifying the limits and declaring the area to be a sanctuary from a specified date, once the period for preferring claims has elapsed and all claims have been disposed of, or where a reserve forest area or part of the territorial waters is to be included.

Two provisos for the sea. Including territorial waters requires the prior concurrence of the Central Government; and the limits must be determined in consultation with the Chief Naval Hydrographer and after taking adequate measures to protect the occupational interests of the local fishermen. Section 26A(2) preserves the right of innocent passage of any vessel or boat.

Section 26A(3): no alteration of the boundaries of a sanctuary except on a recommendation of the National Board.

That last sub-section is the one to quote when asked how secure a protected area is. The boundary cannot be moved by the State alone.

What happens in between

Section 18A(1), immediate protection. When the intention is declared, sections 27 to 33A come into effect forthwith. So the restrictions on entry, destruction, fire, weapons and injurious substances apply from the notification of intention, not from the final declaration.