FAC wants States to move SC on Zudpi Jungle’s land

Almost washing its hands of the issue of the contentious nature of the 78,525-hectare Zudpi Jungle (ZJ) land in Maharashtra’s Nagpur Division, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Environment Ministry has asked the State Government to approach the Supreme Court if it wants the land to be out of the ambit of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

As the State has been maintaining that ZJ land is a ‘revenue’ land, the FAC, the topmost panel of the Ministry that advises on the issues related to the forest diversion, in a recent meeting noted: “A lot of ambiguity exist on the status of Zudpi Jungle land, particularly with respect to applicability of FC Act, 1980, the States should approach the Apex Court for relief in the matter.”

The matter came up during a recent FAC meeting when the State Government moved a proposal seeking not only diversion of three patches of land from ZJ land for non-forestry use as well as the right of diversion of ZJ land for future purpose but also wished to change the status of land as revenue land.

The ‘ZJ’ issue is restricted to Nagpur Division only comprising the six districts of Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. These were previously in Central Provinces during the British Raj.

Over the years, the Maharashtra Government has been claiming that being a scrub forest bereft of dense tree growth, it is a revenue land. But due to the Forest Conservation Act 1980 it could not be used for non-forest purpose.

A senior official from the Environment Ministry said its fate was completely sealed as forest land after the Supreme Court verdict in TN Godaverman case of 1995 laid out the definition of what constitutes forest. Anything with forest tag was brought under strict control and since then, getting the ZJ land cleared for public use became almost impossible.

Though the Centre from time to time had been on the case basis allowing diversion of the Zudpi land for non-forestry use, it gave up recently when the State Government again approached it to grant it the right to use it as revenue land.

“The State Government is also requesting to keep the right of diverted Zudpi jungle land for future diversion with them and wish to change the status of land as revenue land. But to simplify the existing procedural requirement beyond a particular limit as requested by the State Government will tantamount to the dilution of the spirit of Forest (Conservation) Act 1980. So the FAC has asked the State to seek relief from the Supreme Court in the matter,” the official added.