IMPORTANT POINT
Institutionalisation and reconstitution of Central Empowered Committee – Role of Constitutional Courts is to ensure that environmental bodies function vibrantly, and are assisted by robust infrastructure and human resources.

JUDGMENT :

1. This judgment is in the context of institutionalisation and reconstitution of the Central Empowered Committee.¹ [hereinafter ‘CEC’] The CEC was originally directed to be constituted by an order of this Court dated 09.05.2002.² [In I.A. No. 295 in W.P. (C) No. 202/1995 reported as T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs. Union of India, (2013) 8 SCC 198. Pursuant to the said direction, a notification dated 17.09.2002 was issued by the Central Government constituting the CEC as a statutory authority under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986] Almost for a period of two decades, the CEC was functioning as an ad hoc body. We noticed that the present composition of the CEC also consisted of persons who are more than 75 years of age and some of whom are also residing outside India. We also noticed that much water had flown when the CEC was initially constituted, inasmuch as, various enactments concerning environmental issues were enacted, so also various regulatory bodies were constituted under the said enactments. We further found it necessary to have a re-look at the CEC’s functioning. We, therefore, passed orders dated 24.03.2023 and 18.05.2023 in this regard.

2. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change thereafter issued a Notification dated 05.09.2023 under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, constituting the CEC as a permanent body for “the purposes of monitoring and ensuring compliance of the orders of the Supreme Court covering the subject matter of Environment, Forest and Wildlife, and related issues arising out of the said orders and to suggest measures and recommendations generally to the State, as well as Central Government, for more effective implementation of the Act and other orders of the Court.”³ [See the Preamble of the notification dated 05.09.2023] By our order dated 18.08.2023, we have approved the aforesaid Notification. While approving the Notification, we also declared that the CEC shall continue to function subject to such orders and directions that this Court may pass from time to time.

3. In Part I of this judgment, we will first present the conception, constitution, functions, and finally the institutionalisation of the CEC. In Part II, to entrench environmental rule of law in our environmental governance, we have attempted to formulate some new principles for the effective monitoring of various bodies, institutions, and regulators established for protecting our forests, wildlife, environment, and ecology.

PART-I

4. Original Constitution and Functioning of CEC till 2023: This Court’s endeavours to protect forests in India and to ensure regulation of non-forest activities in forests commenced in 1996. Even prior to the constitution of the CEC, this Court directed the constitution of various bodies to oversee and monitor the compliance of its orders. In one of the most important orders dated 12.12.1996 [T.N. Godavarman Thirumulkpad vs. Union of India, (1997) 2 SCC 267] this Court defined the term ‘forest’ as covering all statutorily recognised forests, irrespective of how they were designated (either as reserved, protected or otherwise). The term ‘forest land’ in Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was held to include any area recorded as a forest in government records, irrespective of its ownership. Along with mandating prior approval of the Central Government to undertake any non-forest activities in forests and issuing directions on the felling of trees, this Court also directed the constitution of Expert Committees by each state government to identify ‘forests’ and sustainable existence of saw mills in forests. This Court also directed each state government to constitute a committee with the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and another Senior Official to oversee the compliance of its orders and the filing of status reports by the states.

5. In its order dated 04.03.1997 [T.N. Godavarman Thirumulkpad vs. Union of India, (1997) 3 SCC 312