SC stays Madras HC order on Forest Bill as Centre agrees for Tamil version

The Madras high court had put the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 on hold for want of translated copies of the bill in languages other than English and Hindi

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Madras high court that put the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 on hold for want of translated copies of the bill in languages other than English and Hindi, after the central government gave an assurance that as a “protem measure” it will come out with a Tamil version of the bill by Monday.

The central government gave an assurance that as a protem measure it will come out with a Tamil version of the bill by Monday. (File)

The bill is pending consideration before a joint parliamentary committee (JPC), which had issued an advertisement on May 3 inviting objections in English and Hindi from general public on the provisions of the bill. The HC order of May 24 had stayed the May 3 press communique and all further proceedings before the JPC till June 16.

Passing an order on the Centre’s appeal, the vacation bench of justices Dipankar Dutta and Pankaj Mithal stayed the May 24 high court order after an assurance was given by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre that as a “protem measure” the Centre will come out with a Tamil version of the bill by Monday. He further assured the court that the petitioner before the HC, who desired for a Tamil translation of the bill, will be given seven days time to file objections to the bill.

Mehta, who was assisted by additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, told the court that the HC ought not to have interfered with the legislative process. On June 1, the Centre approached the HC to lift the May 24 stay order. It was accompanied with an affidavit by the Lok Sabha secretariat stating that the Tamil version of the press communication and the bill will be brought out. Despite this, the HC listed the application for June 5.

The high court order had said, “Though it is not our desire to stall an important amendment bill, we are constrained to put it on hold for some time, for the Government to explore the possibilities of publishing translated copies of the Amendment Bill as well as the press communique in all the vernacular languages of the country...We deem it fit to stay all further happenings pursuant to the press communique for the present.”

Even as the top court was considering Centre’s appeal, Mehta informed the court that the JPC had begun its study tour on the bill beginning Friday with the first public hearing scheduled at Jammu and Kashmir. In addition, the JPC had also scheduled sittings at Bhubaneshwar and Guwahati.

The bench asked Mehta if the JPC will visit all regions of the country and said, “Filing of objections will be meaningless if they are not heard. If you devise a procedure for one category of citizens, you cannot deny it to others. Otherwise, you must decide not having a hearing at all for anyone.”

Mehta said, “This is a problem we have invited. The JPC used to call individuals and hear them. It never used to go anywhere.” At its first sitting held on April 25, the JPC headed by Lok Sabha MP Rajender Agarwal decided to invite suggestions from public in general, besides other stakeholders including NGOs, experts and institutions considering the wider implications of the bill.

An independent study on the bill by an expert body has claimed that the bill could jeopardise those lands which are unclassified forests that do not fall within the definition of “forests” but comprise an area covering 15% of India’s total forest cover.

Mehta requested the top court to stay the HC order while pointing out that as per Article 120 of the Constitution, all business to be transacted in Parliament has to be in English or Hindi. The petitioner before the high court, Theeran Thirumurugan, had requested for a Tamil version of the bill to be uploaded on the website of the Centre and urged the court to allow him file objections to the bill in Tamil as well.

“Nobody has objected to the bill not being in other languages but that can be considered,” Mehta said, adding that the publication of the bill in Tamil should not prejudice the rights of the Centre and the Lok Sabha secretariat as this decision is not to be treated as a precedent in future.

The top court listed the matter in the first week of July and said, “In view of the aforesaid (affidavit by Lok Sabha secretariat) and the assurance of Solicitor General that the respondent (Thirumurugan) shall be granted seven days to lodge objections (to the bill), we stay the operation of the high court order.”