NEW DELHI: In a stern warning, the Supreme Court on Monday restrained the Centre and state governments from reducing forest areas without providing compensatory land. The interim order came after a batch of petitions challenged amendments to the 2023 forest conservation law, which allegedly excludes nearly 1.99 lakh square kilometres of forest land from the definition of “forest”.A two-judge bench led by justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran, directed the Centre to submit a status report in three weeks. The court stressed it will not allow any reduction in forest area without compensatory land being provided. The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill was passed by Parliament in 2023. The pleas challenged the constitutionality of the amended law, seeking it to be struck down.The petitioners argued that the 1996 Godavarman judgement by the Supreme Court mandated protection of forests regardless of classification or ownership. They cited the ‘India State of Forest Report 2021’, which states that total forest and tree cover accounts for 24.62% of the country’s geographical area area.
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