Forest dept. wants revenue dept. to take possession of encroached forest land and return to forest dept.

In its response affidavit submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the forest department has demanded that the revenue department take possession of the encroached reserve forest land and hand it over to the forest department. The forest department has reasoned that this land was earlier in the revenue department’s possession and was allocated for different purposes after which it was encroached upon due to negligence on the part of the authorities. The hearing in this case will be held on March 3 wherein officials are likely to demand compensatory land in the western ghats in Maharashtra that will help protect tiger corridors.

The affidavit was submitted by the forest department in response to the principal bench of the NGT in September 2024 directing the principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), district magistrate of Pune, and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to reply on the status of forest land in Pune. The principal bench of the NGT in September 2024 took suo moto action and registered a case based on a report titled ‘Forest Department struggling to regain 14,000 hectares of land in Pune’ published in Hindustan Times on August 28.

The affidavit – the forest department’s first-ever response on the status of forest land in Pune district – was submitted by Mahadev Mohite, deputy conservator of forests (DCF), Pune forest department, on behalf of the PCCF. As per the affidavit, the state government in 1902 had asked the forest department to hand over a portion of reserve forest land to the revenue department for management purposes. Accordingly, the Pune forest department had handed over 35,707 hectares of reserve forest land to the revenue department. The revenue department then allotted certain portions of this reserve forest land in its possession to private persons for various purposes. The revenue department even allotted some portions for military purposes which are now in the defence estates department’s possession. Some portion of the reserve forest land in the revenue department’s possession was also encroached upon by anti-social elements. The state government then decided that the reserve forest land in the revenue department’s possession should be returned to the forest department, and accordingly issued a government resolution (GR) and circulars in 2016.

As per the affidavit submitted to the NGT by the forest department, in view of the GR and circulars issued by the state government, 22,076.26 hectares of reserve forest land has been taken back from the revenue department by the forest department. However, the revenue department is still in possession of 14,631.03 hectares of reserve forest land which could not be taken over by the forest department as some of it has been allotted by the revenue officers to agriculturists, ex-Army men etc and some has been encroached upon with litigation still going on in civil- and revenue- courts. On some of the reserve forest land still in the revenue department’s possession, permanent structures and slums have come up making it very difficult to take possession of this land.

In the response affidavit submitted by the forest department to the NGT, Mohite has demanded that the NGT direct the concerned authorities either to obtain possession of such portions of the reserve forest land, especially those where permanent settlements have come up, or regularise possession as per the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act 1980. Mohite has demanded that the authorities obtain possession of the encroached reserve forest land and hand it over to the forest department. The NGT is yet to reply to the affidavit as the hearing on the same will be held on March 3.

Meanwhile, Mohite told Hindustan Times: “The land has been encroached upon a long time ago, and it has already lost its ecological value. Even if we get the land back, it will be challenging for us to restore it back to its original state or develop it as forest land. Therefore, we are considering demanding compensatory land in the western ghats of Maharashtra where we can not only preserve the forest area but also protect the tiger corridors that are facing threat due to agricultural activities. The demand is yet to be put forward formally and we are now waiting for the decision by the NGT.”