Telangana constitutes expert committee to identify forest lands complying with 1996 SC order

Farmers are busy in agriculture operations at Dulapuram village of Wazeedu mandal of Mulugu district.
| Photo Credit: Represenational purpose

Close to 30 years after the delivery of the landmark T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad judgment which had asked the State governments to take stock of their respective deemed forests, the State government has finally constituted a committee to enumerate such lands outside the notified forest reserves and protected areas.

The 1996 judgement extended the definition of forests to its dictionary meaning, rather than based on the legal boundaries or ownership. Accordingly, all revenue or even private lands which are forested come to be considered as ‘deemed forests’, and given the same treatment as forests as defined in the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

The apex court had also directed the State governments to constitute expert committees to identify such deemed forests, but only a few States had complied with the order over the years.

With the central government excluding unclassified forests by way of a recent amendment to the FC Act, the issue of deemed forests has come to the fore yet again. Responding to a PIL which contended that the amendment undermined the Godavarman ruling, the Supreme Court had, in February, 2024, directed the State governments and Union Territories, to forward the records of the reports of their respective expert committees containing the data of the deemed forests, to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change before March 31, 2024.

Responding to the direction, the Telangana government too submitted a report, hurriedly stitched together by the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, which put the total forest area in Revenue records “under various categories including the notified forest blocks” at a little over 43 lakh acres. The report was sent to the Central government in April last year, through the Forest department.

However, this figure is a gross understatement when compared with the India State of Forest Report 2023, which puts the total forest cover in Telangana at 66 lakh acres. Realising the anomaly, the government had within less than two months, retracted the report which was due for submission before the Supreme Court as part of an affidavit.

After the fiasco, the government has, on March 15 this year, issued an order constituting a committee to identify the forest land and prepare a consolidated land record. The committee has as its members, the CCLA, Commissioner, Panchayat Raj & Rural Development, GHMC Commissioner, Commissioner & Director of Municipal Administration, Commissioner of Industries, Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner/Director, Tribal Welfare, Commissioner, Horticulture, and Metropolitan Commissioner, HMDA, with the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Head of Forest Force acting as member-convenor. The committee is mandated to submit its report within one month.