Aarey chaos: How does the govt classify a forest?

The outcry over the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) being granted permission to cut more than 2,000 trees in Aarey Milk Colony, a biodiversity-rich zone that

The outcry over the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) being granted permission to cut more than 2,000 trees in Aarey Milk Colony, a biodiversity-rich zone that is contiguous to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, has revived the debate on what is classified as a forest.

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The Supreme Court (SC) took suo motu cognisance of a letter to the Chief Justice of India by a law student and a special bench was convened urgently to hear the Aarey matter. In addition to directing that status quo be maintained in Aarey till the next hearing, the court also said that the “identity of the area is to be established by the petitioners”. Some of Aarey is categorised as “un-classed forests” in Maharashtra government records. The Forest Survey of India defines un-classed forests as recorded forests, but not classified as reserve or protected forests.

The SC’s forest bench will hear the Aarey matter on October 21 while hearing the TN Godavarman case, which has been kept open since 1996 to hear hundreds of matters related to the implementation of the Forest Conservation Act. In the interim order passed on December 12, 1996 in the Godavarman vs Union of India case, the SC had observed that the word “forest must be understood according to its dictionary meaning”. It had also directed state governments to identify areas which are forests, irrespective of whether they are so notified, recognised or classified under any law, and irrespective of the ownership of the land of such forest. Many states are yet to comply with this order.

The Aarey matter is reminiscent of the case of a housing project in Haryana from 2017, for which the state government had permitted felling 7,000 trees. Several stretches of the Aravalli range in Haryana are yet to be recognised as forests, much like Aarey. The Haryana government had permitted the housing project arguing that the area in question was not recorded as forest in revenue records. However, the National Green Tribunal found the government’s decision had misinterpreted the law and declared the land a deemed forest.

Siddhanta Das, director general (forests), ministry of environment, said, “There are three categories of forests – notified forests; recorded forests, which means they are not notified but are listed as forest in government records; deemed forests where land which has characteristics of a forest is notified. The state governments have been asked to develop criteria to declare deemed forests. We are not party to the Aarey case, but if we are asked, we will submit this.”

There is no notification by the Maharashtra government to define forests.

On the question of development being anti-environment, Kanchi Kohli, legal researcher, Centre for Policy Research, said, “Redevelopment of existing urban areas or building around cities needs to be designed beyond the land value. The Aravalli Biodiversity Park or Aarey may be urbanisable in city or municipal master plans, but that should not be the only criterion to determine what is the best use of the area. Environmental parameters are more important than ever in urban planning.”

“It is sad that the Supreme Court could only take cognisance now and that the high court could not see the environmental crime being committed by the authorities. If only the trees were not butchered, we’d be more happy,” said Yash Marwah, a member of the Aarey Conservation Group.