Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has held that its prior permission will be necessary for setting up any zoo or safari in a forest, and directed all the states and Union Territories to submit information about the total forest land, as determined under a 1996 top court decision to the Centre, latest by March 31 this year. The court was examining the validity of amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud passed the interim order while adjourning the petitions challenging the validity of the 2023 amendments to July. The order became necessary as the petitioners before the court expressed apprehensions that the amendments, if allowed to operate, will result in de-classification of over 1.97 lakh sq.km of forest, protected under the definition of “forest” by a top court order of December 12, 1996 in the landmark TN Godavarman case.
“We issue an interim order to the effect that any proposal for setting up a zoo or safari referred to in the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, owned by government or any authority in forest area other than protected areas, shall not be finally approved save and except the final approval of this Court,” held the Bench that also comprised Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The court directed the Centre to issue a circular to all the states and he Union Territories directing them to comply with the 1996 ruling and require them to submit reports on identified forest land as per the Godavarman ruling within two weeks. The states and UTs were directed to do the needful before March 31. Once the reports are received, the Centre was further directed to digitise the records and publish it on the website of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) not later than April 15.
Under the amended Forest Conservation Act, the court exempted zoo and safari from the long list of non-forestry activities, paving the way for such activities to be organised inside the forests. Already, a proposal for setting up a tiger safari at the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand has been reserved for judgment by the top court.
