Section 18: Declaring a Sanctuary

In one line

Protection begins on the day the intention is notified, not on the day the sanctuary is finally declared.

In exam wording: sub-section (1) of section 18 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972 empowers the State Government, by notification, to declare its intention to constitute any area other than an area comprised within any reserve forest or the territorial waters as a sanctuary, if it considers that the area is of adequate ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, natural or zoological significance, for the purpose of protecting, propagating or developing wild life or its environment; sub-section (2) requires the notification to specify as nearly as possible the situation and limits of the area, and the Explanation provides that it is sufficient to describe the area by roads, rivers, ridges or other well-known or readily intelligible boundaries; section 18A provides that on such a declaration the provisions of sections 27 to 33A come into effect forthwith, and that until the rights of affected persons are finally settled under sections 19 to 24 the State Government shall make alternative arrangements for making available fuel, fodder and other forest produce to the persons affected in terms of their rights as per the Government records; and section 18B requires the State Government to appoint an officer to act as Collector within ninety days of the coming into force of the Amendment Act of 2002 or within thirty days of the issue of the notification under section 18, to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of rights of any person in or over the land.

MU's own phrase. She asks about the declaration of a sanctuary. The section is headed declaration of sanctuary, and the two steps are the notification of intention under section 18 and the final declaration under section 26A.

The two exclusions in section 18(1)

A reserve forest. An area comprised within a reserve forest cannot be declared a sanctuary under section 18(1). Clause (25B) defines a reserve forest as one declared under section 20 of the Indian Forest Act 1927 or under a State Act.

The territorial waters. Likewise excluded from section 18(1). Clause (30A) adopts the definition in section 3 of the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act 1976.

Where do they go instead? To section 26A, whose proviso to sub-section (1) deals with a reserve forest or a part of the territorial waters, and to section 66(4), which deems such areas within a pre-1991 sanctuary to be a sanctuary declared under section 26A.

Contrast section 35(1), which permits a National Park over an area whether within a sanctuary or not and contains no reserve forest exclusion. That is one of the ways in which a National Park is the wider power.