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Aarey Forest Case

in Mumbai -
Supreme Court
Judgement
" Print
Updated on 8 October, 2019

GS2 GS3 Polity Governance

Infrastructure Environment

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Recently, the Supreme Court ordered

the status quo on the felling of trees
in Aarey forest case in Mumbai for
the construction of a Metro Rail car
shed. The court also ordered the
authorities to release people,
arrested for protesting against the
felling of trees. People have been
protesting against the Mumbai Metro
Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL)’s
decision to cut about 2600 trees in
Aarey Milk Colony. The background
The Aarey Colony, measuring
1,287 hectares and located
adjoining to the Sanjay Gandhi
National Park, is known as a major
green lung of the Mumbai.
According to the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB) data, the air
quality in Mumbai was the worst in
2018 in the last 20 years. What
the protesters are saying? Aarey
forests are known as the 'lungs' of
Mumbai. Hence, cutting down these
trees only means depriving Mumbai
of a vital organ that has been
shielding it from increasing air
pollution.

Constitutional provisions for

environmental protection Art
21: Right to a healthy environment
Art 48- State shall endeavour to
protect and improve the
environment and to safeguard the
forests and wildlife of the country
(Directive Principles of State
Policy) Art 51 A – Fundamental
duty of every citizen of India to
protect and improve the natural
environment including forests,
lakes, rivers and wildlife and to
have compassion for living
creatures

Who gave the approval for cutting

down the trees and for what
purpose? The Mumbai Metro Rail
Corporation (MMRC) had
approached the Tree Authority to
seek permission for felling the trees
to make way for a car shed which is a
part of the Mumbai Metro project.
The approval for cutting down the
trees was given by the Tree Authority
of Bombay Municipal Corporation.
The state govt. says that Aarey
forests are unclassed state forest
and there is no restriction of
cutting down the trees in the
unclassified state forest. The
protesters led by an NGO Vanashakti
sought a declaration from
the Bombay High Court that Aarey
Milk Colony is a forest or an eco-
sensitive zone that required
protection since it is adjacent to
Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The
court rejected the petition as it was
not competent to declare such
things. Contention in the Aarey
debate has been whether the area is
officially designated as a "forest".
Now, the SC has said it will
examine if the area is part of the
eco-sensitive zone or forest or
not. This case has opened the
debate about forest land
classification in the country. It has
also ignited the development vs.
environmental protection debate.
How forests are classified in India?
As the Indian Forest Act of 1927
empowered Indian state
governments to enact rules
regulating various aspects of forest
management, rules differ from state
to state. Indian forests are classified
under the following three categories
under the Indian Forest Act of 1927 :
1. Reserved forests-These forests
were under the direct
supervision of the government
where no public entry is allowed
for collecting timber and grazing
of cattle. About 53 per cent
(40.1 millionths.) of forest area
fell under this category.
Reserved Forest is notified
under section 20 of the Indian
Forest Act, 1927 or under the
reservation provisions of the
Forest acts of the State
Governments. It is within the
power of a State Government
to issue a preliminary notification
declaring an area to be a
Reserved Forest.
2. Protected forests-These
forests were looked after by the
government but here local
people were allowed to collect
timber/firewood and graze their
cattle without causing serious
damage to the forests. These
occupy about 29 per cent (21.5
million ha) of the total area of
forests in the country.
3. Unclassified forests (village
forests)-These are unclassified
forests where there is no
restriction on the cutting of trees
and cattle grazing. About 18 per
cent (13.1 million ha) of the
country’s forests fell under this
category.

Previous related Supreme Court

Judgement on Aarey Forest Case
in Mumbai Supreme Court’s order
in the TN Godavarman
Thirumulkpad vs the Union of
India, 1996
In the order, the apex court had
observed that the Forest
(Conservation) Act, (FCA)
1980, was brought in to
prevent deforestation and
goes on to add that its nature
of land classification doesn’t
matter. Non-forest land came
under the FCA.

Forest Conservation Act, 1980

restricts the use of forest land
for non-forest purposes
prevents the de-reservation
of forests that have been
reserved
restricts leasing of forest land
to private individuals,
authority, corporations not
owned by the Government
prevents clear-felling of
naturally grown trees.

One needs permission to use

forest land for non-forest
purposes.

Moreover, the court had also

said that forests will not just be
areas recorded as forest land
in government records, but all
areas which are similar to the
dictionary definition of a
forest, irrespective of the
classification of land.
The word forest must be
understood according to its
dictionary meaning. This
description covers all statutorily
recognised forests, whether
designated as reserved,
protected or otherwise for the
purpose of Section 2(i) of the
Forest Conservation Act.
Under the Godavarman order,
the states were supposed to
identify and notify forests.
Most states have a criterion for
declaring forest lands, like in
Gujarat they consider patches of
land, which has an area of two
hectares and has 50 trees to be
a forest. Maharashtra
government has not notified any
such criterion

Loopholes in the classification of

forests in India No legal definition
of forests:
While the Forest Conservation
Act, 1980 laid down the
provisions for the protection of
forests, it did not define a forest.
Land that is not explicitly
declared as forest is especially
susceptible to such land grabs.
Different classifications of land
in various states, as well as
messy revenue and forest
records, caused the poor
implementation of the FCA,
often leading to litigations over
thousands of hectares of land
across the country.
The legal definition, pending
since 2006, will help in
identifying areas where
development and industrial
activity can take place without
statutory clearances under the
FCA. At the same time,
clearances, compensatory
afforestation and payment of 1

levies would be compulsory for

the areas now defined as forests.
The Supreme Court order failed
to specify which dictionary it
was referring to and sent forest
classification in India into utter
chaos.
One can’t simply call anything
that looks like a forest because
there are a host of other issues
to take into consideration: to
whom does a forest belong?;
who lived on its land before it
was declared a protected
forest?; how did they earn their
livelihood?; what are their
rights?; did they give their
consent?; how will the forest
department’s ownership affect
them?

What the govt. says?

The govt. is working on a
definition for forests. In draft
forest policy, 2016 it had given
the definition but the draft was
rejected. The govt. wants to
avoid a situation in which selfish
interest find loopholes in the
definition of forests for their
benefits.

Why are the Aarey protesters

demanding Eco-sensitive zones
(ESZ) tag for Aarey forests? The
purpose of declaring ESZs is to
create some kind of "shock
absorbers" to the protected areas
by regulating and managing the
activities around such areas. So the
cutting of trees will be prohibited
once it is declared an ESZ. What are
Eco-sensitive zones and how are
they declared? Eco-Sensitive
Zones (ESZs) or Ecologically
Fragile Areas (EFAs) are areas
notified by the Ministry of
Environment, Forests and Climate
Change (MoEFCC), Government of
India around Protected Areas,
National Parks and Wildlife
Sanctuaries.
They act as a transition zone
from areas of high protection to
areas involving lesser
protection.
The Environment (Protection)
Act, 1986 does not mention
the word "Eco-Sensitive
Zones".

About Environment Protection

Act, 1986
It was brought in the
wake of Bhopal gas
tragedy under Article
253 of the constitution.
Article 253 empowers
Parliament to make any
law for the whole or any
part of the territory of
India for implementing
treaties, international
agreements and
conventions.
Parliamentary legislation
is necessary for
implementing the
provisions of a treaty
within the country.
EPA, 1986 implements the
agenda of the UN
conference on the human
environment.

regulate environmental
pollution, laying down
procedures and standards for
industrial waste, emissions,
hazardous waste

However, Section 3(2)(v) of the

Act, says that the Central
Government can restrict areas
in which any industries,
operations or processes or
class of industries, operations
or processes shall not be
carried out or shall be carried
out subject to certain
safeguards.
Besides Rule 5(1) of the
Environment (Protection)
Rules, 1986 states that central
government can prohibit or
restrict the location of industries
and carrying on certain
operations or processes on the
basis of considerations like the
biological diversity of an area,
maximum allowable limits of
concentration of pollutants for
an area, environmentally
compatible land use, and
proximity to protected areas.
The above two clauses have
been effectively used by the
government to declare ESZs or
EFAs. The same criteria have
been used by the government to
declare No Development Zones.

Map of Aarey forest SGNP means

Sanjay Gandhi National Park
NotifiedAreaofSGNP

BoundaryofProposedEcoSensitiveZone
NonNotifiedAreaUndertheConrolofSGNPDivision

VegetationinNonForestAreas
WaterBodies

Settlements&Constructions Metro-3
Agriculture&Horticulture

GoregaonFilmCity,
RoyalPalmsHotels
whereall'celebrity
environmentalists'
shoottheirmovies
andparty

ProposedMetro-3Car
ShedDepot

In 2018, the Supreme Court

directed the Union Environment
Ministry to declare 10 km area
around 21 national parks and
wildlife sanctuaries across the
country as ‘eco-sensitive
zones’. The parks and sanctuaries
are the
Pobitora sanctuary in Assam
Hemis and Kishtewar national
parks
Changthang, Hokersar,
Trikuta sanctuaries in Jammu
and Kashmir; Jogimatti,
Thimlapura and Yadahalli
Chinkara sanctuaries in
Karnataka;
Deolgaon Rehekuri and
Thane Creek Flamingo
sanctuaries and the Malvan
marine sanctuary in
Maharashtra;
Sironi National Park and
Khongjaingamba Ching
sanctuary in Manipur;
Baghmara Pitcher Plant
sanctuary in Meghalaya;
Fakim and Puliebadze and
Rangapahar sanctuaries in
Nagaland;
Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar bird
sanctuary
Pilibhit sanctuary in Uttar
Pradesh and
the Jorepokhri sanctuary in
West Bengal.

Way forward:
Today our entire environmental
governance is centred on
clearances—environment
clearance, forest clearance,
wildlife clearance, clearances for
ecologically-sensitive areas and
clearance from pollution control
boards. However, none of these
clearances is working for the
benefit of the environment; they
are just paperwork with poor
implementation on the ground.
The Draft National Forest Policy,
2018 should reform our laws,
strengthening our institutions
and streamlining the processes.
A proper official definition of
forests will be beneficial for
implementing different forest
acts.

Also read: Aarey Forest Case

Mizoram Rejects Proposed Forest
Act Amendment

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