2024 Supreme(Online)(NGT) 4057

NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL BHOPAL (CENTRAL ZONE BENCH)
Sheo Kumar Singh, Judicial Member, Vijay Kulkarni, Expert Member
Rashid Noor Khan – Appellant
Versus
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest – Respondent
Original Application No. 160/2024(CZ)

Unnotified tiger corridors require precautionary human-wildlife conflict measures, but NGT cannot declare urban areas as reserves; time-barred challenges to pre-existing constructions; encroachments on notified forest land to be removed by authorities.

Headnote:(A) Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 - Section 2 - Indian Forest Act, 1927 - Section 29 - Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 - National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 - Sections 14, 15 - Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 - Protection of tiger habitat, breeding grounds, and corridors from encroachments, human activities, and fragmentation - Area between dams serving as tiger corridor not notified as tiger reserve or eco-sensitive zone - Non-forest activities in revenue forest land and deemed forest require prior central approval - Encroachments on forest land (0.194 ha and 0.251 ha) by educational institution predating notification as protected forest to be removed by revenue authorities - Diversion/exchange proposals rejected by state - State to demarcate, notify, and protect forest lands per Supreme Court dictionary definition of forest - Precautionary measures like fencing, warning boards mandatory to mitigate human-wildlife conflict - Development projects (roads, residential) must incorporate wildlife passages, fencing, and forest department recommendations - Nagar Van schemes not to alter forest character (Paras 4-10, 20, 37, 44-47).

(B) Limitation under NGT Act - Applications time-barred if challenging pre-existing constructions (over decade old) without fresh cause of action - Relocation of institutions not within NGT jurisdiction (Paras 30-34, 41, 42).

(C) Judicial Review - NGT not to direct notification of urban areas with habitations as tiger reserves - Administrative demarcation, land use conversion under forest/revenue laws; town planning to ensure sustainable development consulting forest experts (Paras 38-40, 45-47).

Facts of the case:
Applicant alleged encroachments, unauthorized constructions (university, resort, restaurant, farms), events causing noise pollution, forest fires, tree felling, plotting, road projects fragmenting tiger corridor between dams; Nagar Van diverting forest to municipal control; WALMI fencing harming wildlife. Joint committee inspected sites, confirmed minor encroachments, no major violations, ongoing protections; prior NGT cases addressed similar issues.

Findings of Court:
Area ecologically rich with tiger movement but not notified protected area; forest department implementing monitoring, patrolling, rescues; no human-tiger conflict incidents; encroachments to be removed per demarcation; road project with wildlife mitigations under approval; WALMI fencing wildlife-friendly, no harm reported.

Issues: Whether alleged activities violate environmental laws in tiger habitat; maintainability/limitation; need for fresh committee; directions for demarcation/notification/protection; sustainable development in tiger movement areas.

Ratio Decidendi: Unnotified tiger corridors warrant precautionary protections but NGT cannot mandate reserve status in urbanized zones; prior approvals/possessions limit challenges; encroachments on notified forest land removable by revenue/forest authorities; infrastructure must prioritize wildlife mitigation and expert inputs for ecological balance.

Result: Original Application disposed of with directions for encroachment removal, forest demarcation, town planning consultations, committee recommendations implementation; no further NGT intervention.

Table of Content
1. tiger habitat protection in chandanpura forest corridor. (Para 1 , 2 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13)
2. encroachments and violations by jlu and others. (Para 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18)
3. joint committee reports on site inspections. (Para 8 , 36 , 37)
4. forest conservation act and godavarman principles. (Para 9 , 19 , 20)
5. walmi boundary fencing for biodiversity protection. (Para 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29)
6. maintainability and limitation under ngt act. (Para 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34)
7. issues framed and applicant objections. (Para 35 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43)
8. directions for human-tiger conflict mitigation. (Para 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49)

JUDGMENT

1. Issue raised in this application is protection of Tiger habitat and breeding ground and to avoid the human-tiger conflict and to protect the forest land from encroachments.

2. The submission of the applicant is that the Chandanpura Forest Region, situated between Kerwa and Kaliyasote Dam acts as safety Valve in maintaining this delicate Ecological balance, is also a Tiger Habitat and breeding ground due to which this forest has been notified as protected forest and the entire Ecology is thus safeguarded or regulated by Forest Protection Act, Environmental Protection Act, Biodiversity Act, Wildlife Protection Act and the State being signatory of various international conventions, is bound to preserve, protect and conserve this forest region, alongwith its peripherial areas which are part of and forms the buffer zone for Chandanpura Forest Region.

3. It is further submitted that, due to continuous interference, disturbance, encroachment and destruction of Forest by Humans, the inhabitant Tiger are facing the danger of being forcefully removed from this Forest Region, and the Western Ringroad Project is the last blow to cut of and fragment the Tiger corridor, so that the movement of Tigers cease to exist and the breeding ground of Tiger be made inaccessible to the Tigers and that Respondent No. 9, is operating a full-fledged university in the midst of Tiger Habitat and Breeding ground, without taking any Forest Clearance, under the guise of Student Enrichment Hub where only extracurricular activities are permitted but does not include academic activities.

4. That, numerous events of forest fire have occurred frequently on behest of JLU and are reported along the periphery of JLU campus, tree cover has been reduced for newer construction as evident by the comparison of images in following Para and that under the guise of educational institute, slash and burn method has been adopted by JLU for encroaching the forest land all along its periphery, which is evident from the newspaper publication dated 24.06.2024, where action has been taken by authorities to remove the illegal boundary measuring more than 200 meters on the forest land, where JLU has slowly adopted slash and burn method to remove forest cover. These disgraceful and illegal actions of JLU establishes beyond doubt that the only purpose of the respondent JLU is to grab land under the guise of educational Institute.

5. The death of a healthy tigress and her cub Kms away from JLU, just 4 days after its sighting must be seriously looked into and enquired of any foul play. this hill is covered from all side by thick forested belt having a highly dense canopy but the top of this hill, Khasra No 89/2 with Z7 & Z5, has been systematically cleared of tree cover and now plotting has been done to further increase the non-forest activities along with human induced disturbances and various pollutions, with roads being made by cutting side of the hill, most importantly within few meters from Tiger saucers where Tiger and Wildlife frequently comes to quench their thirst and cool down their body.

6. Plotting has been done without the permission from the competent authority, and entire Danish hill with its slope is facing Kaliyasot River. In contravention of the orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme C

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