Consider Maharashtra's Zudpi Jungle as forest lands: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declared Zudpi Jungle lands in Maharashtra's eastern Vidarbha region as forests in line with its 1996 verdict but protected the structures existing on it for decades.

The apex court 1996 verdict defined the term "forest".

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih noted that "zudpi" was a Marathi word, literally translating to bushes or shrubs and "zudpi" lands meant an inferior type of unoccupied lands with bushy growth.

The top court was dealing with the issue over the status of such lands in the districts of Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra's eastern Vidarbha region.

The bench directed such lands would not be permitted to be used for compensatory afforestation unless there was a certificate of the state chief secretary regarding non-availability of non-forest land for afforestation.

In such cases, compensatory afforestation must be carried out on double the area of "Zudpi Jungle" lands, according to the existing guidelines of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, it added.

"Zudpi jungle lands shall be considered as forest lands in line with the order of this court dated December 12, 1996 in the present proceedings," the verdict penned by the CJI said.

The top court underlined maintaining a balance between environmental protection and the need for sustainable development.

Various developmental activities, it said, were already undertaken on "Zudpi Jungle" lands like construction of irrigation dams, roads, schools, public health centres and other utilities facilities.

The bench annexed a list of institutions, buildings, residential areas, public utilities which would be affected in the city of Nagpur alone.

It said even the buildings in which the high court, high court judges' residences, state governments' secretariat, central government's buildings, defence buildings, Air Force buildings and graveyards were situated, would be impacted.

"... we direct that as an exception, and without the same being treated as a precedent whatsoever for any matter, the zudpi jungle lands allotted by the competent authority up to December 12, 1996 and for which land classification has not been changed, the State of Maharashtra shall seek approval under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for their deletion from the 'List of Forest Areas'," the bench said.

The top court was called upon to consider whether the "shelter from the heads of lakhs of people living in houses" for decades should be allowed to be removed or not.

The bench said for over half a century, various public amenities such as schools, government offices, public health centres, graveyards, cemeteries existed on such lands for providing services to citizens residing in "zudpi" areas.

"The question that we will also have to answer is whether the citizens should be deprived of all these facilities on account of some bureaucratic mess caused by the negligence of the officials of the state government at the time of reorganisation of the states," it said.

"The answers to all these questions will have to be in the negative," it added.

The bench said the state filed applications seeking directions that 86,409 hectare "zudpi" land, unfit for forestry management, did not come under the purview of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

Maharashtra's counsel argued such lands were never forest lands and on account of reorganisation of states and inaction of certain bureaucrats, the revenue records were not corrected and the lands continued to be recorded as "zudpi" forest lands erroneously.

The bench directed a mutual consultation between the Centre and Maharashtra over the diversion of "Zudpi Jungle" land for non-forestry activities within three months, with a prior approval of the Central Empowered Committee.

"For a proposal regarding the allotments of zudpi jungle lands made post December 12, 1996, the state of Maharashtra shall give reasons in the proposal as to why such allotments were made along with the list of officers who had made such allotments in violation of the order of this court," it said.

The bench clarified that processing of proposal for such allotments should be done by the Centre only after ensuring that punitive action against the officers concerned under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

The top court ordered the state to issue directions to all sub-divisional magistrates (SDM) concerned to ensure no such land parcel was encroached upon.

"We clarify that, as and when these lands are required for non-forestry purposes by the state government, the proposal shall be submitted as per the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980," the bench said.

It clarified that, in no case any such land shall be diverted to any non-governmental entity for any purpose whatsoever.

The bench directed that a special task force comprising of SDM, deputy superintendent of police, an assistant conservator of forests and a taluka inspector of land revenue should be constituted in each district to remove encroachments within two years.

"The revenue department of the state of Maharashtra shall hand over the possession of the remaining area, if any, from the aforesaid area of 7,76,767.622 hectare, which is still in possession of the revenue department to the forest department," it said.