Forest rest house can't be used for tourism: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed that the forest rest house, falling in the forest or protected area, cannot be used for tourism or commercial purposes.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta gave its stamp of approval on the guidelines prepared by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and ratified by the Union government, to prevent misuse of forest rest houses and inspection bungalows.

The court made the guidelines as part of its order, which also stated that the original structure of the rest houses, many of which were heritage buildings, should be retained while undertaking any renovation, addition or improvement.

“Forest rest houses/ inspection bungalows located within the forest area including the protected areas shall not be transferred to private and commercial entities in the name of a public-private partnership or by whatever name such an arrangement is called, for the promotion of any form of tourism including ecotourism,” the guidelines stated.

The CEC prepared the guidelines on the direction of the top court after an application was filed before it by Bikram Singh, contending that the forest rest houses were being misused for a variety of purposes and activities.

The court noted the facilities have been created for camping of forest officers primarily for the discharge of their duties connected with conservation, protection and management of forests and wildlife. These rest houses have a very limited number of rooms. Therefore the control of forest rest houses, including their reservation, shall under all circumstances remain with the forest department, it said.

“In no circumstance the control of these places located inside the forests be taken over by the district administration or government,” the court said.

The court directed the ministry of environment, forests and climate change to circulate its order to the principal chief conservator of forests of all the states and ensure that they abide by these guidelines.