Anurag Hazari vs State Of Madhya Pradesh And Ors

This application was originally filed as Writ Petition No. 3003/2004 (PIL) by the Applicant before the Hon'ble High Court of MP at Jabalpur and came to be transferred before this Tribunal on account of the order passed by the Hon'ble High Court dated 09.01.2014. After receipt of the record, the Original Application No. 26 of 2014 was registered and vide order dated 20.02.2014, notices were ordered to be issued to the Applicant as well as the Respondents.

In the Writ Petition, the Applicant raised issues with regard to illicit felling of trees and destruction of forest in District Damoh in Madhya Pradesh. The relief sought in the Writ Petition are as follows:

(i) A writ in nature of 'mandamus' may kindly be issued Commanding the Respondents No. 1, 2 and 3 to take appropriate action against illicit felling of valuable trees; illicit mining and encroachment of forest land particularly in Ghatpipariya Circle and Hathni beat, respectively Compartment No. 134 and 109 of reserve-forests of District Damoh.

(ii) A writ in nature of 'mandamus' may kindly be issued commanding the Respondents No. 1 and 3 to take appropriate action against the Respondents No. 5 and 6 as well as their subordinates employees for such mass scale felling of trees, illicit mining and encroaching of forest land in aforesaid reserve forest land in aforesaid reserve- forests by taking effective steps against the Forest Mafia and by all other means;

(iii) A writ in nature 'mandamus' may kindly be issued commanding the Respondents to take appropriate steps for security of the officers and employees of forest department, who date to control the illicit felling of trees;

(iv) A writ in nature of 'mandamus' may kindly be issued commanding the Respondent No. 9 to take appropriate action for saving the ecology and environment of the aforementioned area by saving reserve forests.

Since, the Writ Petition was filed long back in 2004 and notices were issued to the Respondents, the Respondents submitted their reply before the Hon'ble High Court on 12.10.2004. In their reply, the respondents have agreed to the fact that illegal felling of trees has been noticed during the course of inspection and cases have been registered against the persons responsible for the same. It has also been stated that calculation of the estimated value of stolen timber was done and recoveries made from the persons responsible.

Apart from the above, the Respondents also submitted the various steps taken by them including establishment of flying squads, forest check posts, creation of wireless network, fitting wireless sets in the vehicles of the Forest Department, deployment of Special Armed Force (SAF) for the assistance of the Forest Personnel, checking of saw-mills, creation of District Level Task Force, as also creation of Joint Forest Management Committees among others were highlighted in their reply.

Notices were issued to the parties vide order dated 20.02.2014 subsequent to the case having been received from the Hon'ble High Court by way of transfer to this Tribunal but the Applicant did not appear even on a single date of hearing. As such the matter was heard in the absence of the Applicant. After the matter was listed for hearing, pursuant to issuance of notices, the Tribunal directed the Respondents to submit the present status of forest protection as the earlier information submitted by them in their reply, is quite old as the same was filed before the Hon'ble High Court as long back as in October, 2004. Accordingly additional reply was filed by the Respondents as per the order dated 04.08.2014 directing the Respondents to convene meeting of the District Level Task Force Committee which is already in existence and the said meeting was directed to be presided over by the District Collector and to be attended by all the Committee members concerned and also to examine the various issues and the problems which have been raised in the Writ Petition as to what steps, have been taken in the last 10 years and in case any further assistance is necessary at the level of the State Government, to indicate the same. It was further directed that the State Government, on receipt of the proposal from the District Level Task Force Committee headed by the District Collector, shall take necessary decision on the same.

It has been submitted that the District Collector, Damoh convened meeting of the District Level Task Force Committee on 12.08.2014 and reviewed the existing position and also the result of the measures taken in the past with regard to strengthening the forest protection particularly controlling the illicit felling of trees in Compartments No.109 & 134. Minutes of the meeting dated 12.08.2014 have been annexed at (Annexure RR/1) of the additional reply.

A perusal of the Minutes of the meeting indicates that the following forest protection measures were considered to be strengthened.

(1) Prevention of illegal felling of trees.

(2) Prevention of illegal mining operations.

(3) Prevention of encroachment and trespass in the forest area.

(4) Protection to the wildlife.

On each of the above issues, detailed discussions were held and minutes recorded. We find from the Minutes of the Meeting the details of the offence cases registered on illegal felling of trees, illegal mining and trespass/encroachments into the forest in the form of a statement. A perusal of the statement reveals that in Compartment No. 109, there was an increase in the no. of cases of illegal felling of trees from 26 in 2005 to 73 in 2006 which further went upto 100 in the year 2009. Thereafter, from 2010 onwards, there has been a decrease in the incidents of illegal felling. In 2013, 42 such cases were registered and in 2014 only 27 cases have been registered. In contrast, in Compartment No. 134, the number of cases registered in 2005 was 26 which steadily declined and in the year 2010 only one case was registered. So far as alleged illegal mining and encroachment cases are concerned, the statement shows 'nil'.

The reason for higher incidence of offence cases in Compartment No. 109 is attributed to be its distant location from District Headquarters and there being habitations all around. Therefore, the measures suggested in the meeting dated 12.08.2014 of the Task Force for strengthening the forest protection in Compartment No. 109 and 134, are primarily posting of the Special Armed Force (SAF) and its effective utilisation for prevention of felling of trees besides providing fencing in vulnerable areas of both the Compartments i.e. 109 and 134; erection of watchtowers, deploying adequate staff at the forest chowkis, providing sufficient strength of staff for patrolling the forest along with the Range Officers and taking assistance of Police officials, wherever necessary. \

The aforesaid recommendations of the Task Force were conveyed to the State Government and the Government under the Chairmanship of the Secretary, Forests held a meeting on 08.09.2014 and has taken the following decisions as mentioned in the minutes of the meeting dated 08.09.2014 filed at Annexure RR/2:

(1) It was decided that SAF would be deployed with a strength of 1-4 persons in all sensitive areas within one month. (2) For implementing the aforesaid decision of forest protection in Compartments No. 109 and 134 necessary budget requirement and estimates be prepared and the proposals be sent to the Government by the department.

Though, the aforesaid decisions were taken in the meeting dated 08.09.2014 under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Forests, we find that in this behalf no time frame has been laid down, as such we would direct the Government to fix time frame and make necessary financial allocation for the same. The Conservator of Forests, Damoh who is required to prepare necessary budget proposals and the estimates, shall do so immediately and forward the same to the government through the District Collector and Head of the Forest Department as decided in the meeting preferably within one month from today, if not already prepared and sent.

On receipt of the said proposals, the Government shall consider the same and provide all the necessary financial allocation and the decisions are implemented and the same must be completed within the current financial year itself i.e., by 31.03.2015. Likewise, construction of the watch towers in Compartment Nos. 109 and 134 shall also be completed before 31.03.2015.

We find from the reply that steps have already been taken to strengthen the patrolling by deployment of additional number of 12 daily-wage employees to assist the regular staff in Compartment No. 109 and 05 daily-wage employees in Compartment No. 134. However, in Para 3 of the Minutes of the meeting conducted by the Secretary, Forests it was recorded that as many as 62 posts have been found lying vacant in the Damoh District. The same must be filled-in by taking necessary recruitment process immediately and completed by 31.03.2015.

As far as the proposals recorded under item nos. 4 to 9 are concerned, necessary steps in this behalf shall be taken within a fixed time frame including that of appointing a special Public Prosecutor for conducting the cases in the Court, as it was felt that delay in the prosecution of court cases is making the offenders emboldened and institution of offence cases against them is not acting as a deterrent.

Having examined the issues that have been raised by the Applicant in this application, this Tribunal having directed the District Level Task Force Committee to look into the issues, identify the problems and send recommendations to the State Government which it has done and the State Government having already dealt with the matter in its meeting held on 08.09.2014 and having taken necessary decisions in this behalf, we would expect that if the proposed measures particularly strengthening the field staff, regular patrolling etc. being carried out and establishment of check-posts erection of watchtowers and providing fencing in the vulnerable forest areas, the regular occurrence of incidents of illegal felling of trees which have been admitted as per the figures submitted before this Tribunal, shall be considerably reduced and eventually completely eradicated.

For compliance of our above directions, the matter shall be listed for reporting the progress made on each of the aspects and the steps taken for compliance before this Tribunal on 19th December, 2014.

With the aforesaid directions, this Original Application No. 26 of 2014 stands disposed of.

Let a copy of this order be sent to the Secretary, Forests, GoMP; District Collector, Damoh; Conservator of Forests, Damoh. It shall be the responsibility of the Standing Counsel for the State of MP to convey our order to the concerned Respondents.