Forest Clearance Under the Van Adhiniyam

In one line

Five sections decide whether a forest may be turned into something else, and section 2 is the whole of it.

In exam wording: section 2 of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam 1980, formerly the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, provides that notwithstanding anything in any other law, no State Government or other authority shall make, except with the prior approval of the Central Government, any order directing that any reserved forest or any portion of it shall cease to be reserved; that any forest land or any portion of it may be used for any non-forest purpose; that any forest land or any portion of it may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or organisation not owned, managed or controlled by Government; or that any forest land or any portion of it may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for reafforestation.

The Act, and its new name

The Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, Act 69 of 1980, was renamed the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 by the amendment of 2023. A student searching for it under the old name will find it only because the old name survives in section 1.

Section 1A, inserted by the same amendment, states the land the Act applies to.

Section 2A, also new, provides an appeal to the National Green Tribunal.

Section 3 constitutes the Advisory Committee, to advise the Central Government with regard to the grant of approval under section 2 and on any other matter connected with the conservation of forests referred to it.

Sections 3A, 3B and 3C, added by amendment, provide for a penalty for contravention, for offences by authorities and Government departments, and for the Central Government's power to issue directions.

Sections 4 and 5 are the rule making power and the repeal of the Ordinance of 1980.

The four things section 2 forbids without prior approval

One: de-reservation. An order that a reserved forest, or any portion of it, shall cease to be reserved. A reserved forest is constituted under Chapter II of the Indian Forest Act 1927.

Two: non-forest use. An order that forest land, or any portion of it, may be used for a non-forest purpose. The Explanation to section 2 defines a non-forest purpose as the breaking up or clearing of forest land or a portion of it for the cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber, palms, oil-bearing plants, horticultural crops or medicinal plants, or for any purpose other than reafforestation, with a saving for work relating or ancillary to conservation, development and management of forests and wildlife.