An expert committee will be formed in 15 days for the comprehensive documentation of the State’s notified, registered, and deemed forest lands.
The decision was taken at a meeting jointly chaired by Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre and Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, which was convened following demands to review certain deemed forest areas where notified forest lands, patta lands, government offices, schools, and colleges are located.
Creating records
Under Section 16 of the Forest Conservation and Development Act, 1980, the new expert committee will be tasked with creating detailed records of notified and registered forest areas. Additionally, it will review deficiencies in the currently designated deemed forest areas, correct them, and submit a consolidated report within six months.
In the Godavarman Thirumalpad v/s Union of India case, the Supreme Court, in 1996, provided a definition of forest and forest land, directing the formation of an expert committee to identify forests and submit a factual report through an affidavit.
Errors in process
The first expert committee identified 9,94,881.11 hectares as deemed forest land. However, due to errors in the identification process, committees were formed at the district, revenue division, and state levels. These committees identified 3,30,186.93 hectares as deemed forest land.
“In the newly constituted committee, if government offices, schools, patta lands, etc., are found within the 3,30,186.93 hectares of deemed forest land already reported to the Supreme Court, alternative forest-rich areas should be identified, Mr. Khandre said.
The new expert committee will use the forest data already prepared by the Forest Department and will also leverage GIS and remote sensing support from the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Center (KSRSAC).
Published - October 24, 2024 09:51 pm IST
