SC directs broad meaning of 'forest' per 1996 order

Key Points

• 1The Supreme Court directed the government to use the dictionary meaning of 'forest', as upheld in the 1996 T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad case.
• 2The order addressed petitions challenging the 2023 amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
• 3The court noted that the term 'forest' will cover, but not be confined to, lands recorded as forests in government records.
• 4The expression 'forest' will continue to have a broad and all-encompassing meaning for the time being.
• 5The 1980 statute was enacted to check further deforestation leading to ecological imbalance.