Forest Conservation Act, 1980

The practice of Forest conservation is the planning and maintenance of forested areas for the
sake of the balance in the environment and sustainable development for future generations. The
Forest (Conservation) ordinance was promulgated by the President of India on 25th of October
1980.
Salient features of the Act
• Forests were transferred from the state list to the concurrent list under the Constitution. Thus,
due to this shift, the Central Government was empowered to directly act in order to conserve
forests. This Act ensures the conservation of forest grounds.
• This Act empowers State Governments to use forest area only for forestry purposes.
• Forest is treated as a national asset. Therefore, the state governments have to seek the
central government’s approval if it plans to use the forest area for:
1.Reforestation.
2.Non-forestry purposes such as mining.
• There are provisions under this Act which was drafted with the intent to reduce the rate of
Deforestation. It causes an imbalance in nature and ecology. This, in turn, leads to the
degradation of environmental quality.
• The act seeks to check the de-reservation of forests. Another important feature of this Act is
that the Central Government’s prior approval is an absolute necessity when it comes to
dereservation of reserved forest areas.
• The Act ensures that in order to stop forest dwellers from cutting trees, they must have
full access to fuel, fodder, building material, wood etc at a subsidized rate.
• Compensatory afforestation is also one of the salient features of this Act as it promotes
this practice throughout the statute.
• This Act seeks to modify working plans into environmentally sound and scientifically
researched action plans. So, all kinds of risks and costs are minimised.
• This Act contains provisions that were drafted with the intent to protect standing Forests.
• The Act also seeks to spread awareness amongst organizations and the public at large
about forest conservation and protection. The government is required to create an
information base.
• This legislation is pretty short with only 5 sections. However, this legislation is significant
enough because it is effective and has been somewhat successful in conserving forests.
 Important Sections of the Forest
Conservation Act
Section 1: Title and scope
The law applies to the whole of India except for Jammu and Kashmir. However, when Article 370 was removed, it meant
all laws at the central level became applicable. But only 37 laws apply to Jammu and Kashmir at the moment and the
Forest Conservation Act of 1980 is not one of them
Section 2: Restriction of forests being used for non-forest purposes.
The section lists restrictions where state authorities cannot make laws regarding forest without the permissions of the
Central Government. The emphasis is on ‘non forest purposes’ which means that clearing forest land for the planting of:
1.Tea
2.Coffee
3.Spices
4.Rubber
5.Palms
6.Oil-bearing
7.Medicinal plants
Section 3: Advisory committee As per Section 3 of this Act, the Central government has the power to constitute an
advisory committee to advice on matters related to advising the central government on the preservation of forests
(iv) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown
naturally in that land or portion for the purpose of using it for reforestation
Judicial Approach
In the Social Action For Forest and Environment (SAFE) v. Union of India, the National Green Tribunal
accepted the contention of the State via an affidavit filed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
change. The contention was the construction of the wall within Raja Ji National Park. The main issue raised
was whether such a construction was in accordance with the provisions of the FCA, 1980 or not. The NGT
decided that the approved management plan lies within the meaning of ‘work relating to or ancillary to
conservation development and management of forest and wildlife’. Thus, such activity doesn’t necessarily
require any forest clearance as under Section 2 of the Act.
An important question arose as to whether central government’s prior approval is essential when the license
has already been granted for mining. In connection to the same another issue arose was whether approval is
required while an existing license is getting renewed. Both these issues were resolved in the Landmark case of,
T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad etc. v. UOI & Ors. . In this case, it was held that all provisions of FCA, 1980
applies to all types of forests irrespective of the nature of ownership or any other classification thereof. The
dictionary meaning of forest has to be referred to while keeping the statutory implications in view. Thus, the
Central Government’s approval is required in the above two cases as well. Since the forest is under concurrent
list the Central government will intervene in every step. (Reserved Forest, Village Forest, Protected Forest,
Private Forest)
Compensatory afforestation

As per guidelines issued under the FCA, 1980 Compensatory Afforestation is

one of the most important features of this Act and the Central Government
has to keep in view the implementation of reforestation while approving
proposals for de-reservation or diversion.
It is mandated under the FCA, 1980 that forest land can be diverted for
infrastructural development activities like mining, road construction, railway
lines. Since this kind of development requires the clearance of forest areas,
the law mandated compensatory afforestation in order to make up for the
loss of biodiversity. The Statute stipulates that compensatory afforestation
has to be carried out on non-forest land equal to the forest land being
diverted.
Concept of Net Present Value
(NPV)

In the case of T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India and Ors., the concept of
‘Net Present Value’ was introduced. This concept was applied in the context of forestry.
In this case, it was determined that since forestry is a public project and the benefit
arising out of it can be treated as ‘cost incurred’. The reason behind such a
determination was the fact that the development of forest areas have a long gestation
period of about 40-50 years. This time period will also face cost cycles every year
depending upon inflation, deflation, rate of interest, stagflation, return interest rate etc.
Thus, environmental outputs from forests shall be treated as public goods. However, in
recent years a problem with the valuation of such environmental outputs has arisen.
The main problem arising is the allocation of fixed costs. Fixed cost is important for
valuation as it contributes to total revenue. However, when it comes to the valuation of
intangible outputs such as environmental cost-benefit there is no known market for the
same. Thus, the concept of Net Present Value (NPV) came up.
NPV is a method by which future expenditures (costs) and benefit are levelised. Such a
levelisation of costs is done in order to account for the time value of money.
In Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, Dehradun v. State of UP, the Apex Court held that if its a case of
first grant or even renewal Section 2 of the FCA, 1980 is a condition precedent. Further, in the famous case
of M C Mehta v. Union of India (2004), the Court re-emphasized that renewal is to be treated as a fresh
grant. Therefore, a mining project cannot commence without prior permission of the Government of India.

In State of Kerala v. Sunil Kumar, the SC reiterated that if a State Government didn’t want to lease a part of
the forest land, seeking prior approval is out of the question.

In A Chowgle and Co. Ltd v. Goa foundation the Apex Court held that in order for the diversion of forest
land for some other purpose, Central Government approval is required before the execution of such a
purpose in accordance with Section 2 of the FCA. Any lease obtained without approval is null and void.
Another important issue resolved was that the Court also held that the Central Government’s approval
cannot be applied retrospectively, this means that the approval cannot be a ratifying act.