State to file review petition against SC verdict on Zudpi land

The review petition will be filed against an apex court’s verdict, which directed that zudpi jungle land (shrub forest) in Vidarbha, in eastern Maharashtra, shall be considered forest land in line with an order of the court dated December 12, 1996

MUMBAI: Maharashtra forest minister Ganesh Naik said the state government will file a review petition against the Supreme Court’s verdict on the conservation of zudpi forest land. He made the announcement in the state assembly on Friday.

Maharashtra forest minister Ganesh Naik (Bachchan Kumar)

The review petition will be filed against an apex court’s verdict, which directed that zudpi jungle land (shrub forest) in Vidarbha, in eastern Maharashtra, shall be considered forest land in line with an order of the court dated December 12, 1996. The current order was delivered on May 22.

In its 1996 order, the court had held that forest land as defined under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, would include not only forests as understood in the dictionary sense but any area recorded as forest in government records.

Raising the issue, Congress legislator Nana Patole said this would pose a major problem as it would create hurdles in implementing development projects. “No such land can be redeveloped after this verdict. The state government has failed to explain it to the Supreme Court, because of which this verdict was delivered,” Patole noted, demanding that the state file a review petition.

Naik appeared to agree with him and said in the lower house, “The apex court issued the verdict despite the central government taking a different stand. The state government will file a review petition to resolve the matter.”

Interestingly, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had welcomed the verdict, calling it a “big relief for the Vidarbha region” that has been lagging in terms of development due to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. “All the land parcels granted before 1996 were given a kind of exemption by the SC. A process has also been formulated for lands that were granted post-1996, following which the state can get the land from the central government,” Fadnavis said in a statement on May 22.