THE
FOREST (CONSERVATION) ACT, 1980
(6
of 1980)
An
Act to provide for the conservation of forests and for matters connected
therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto.
BE
it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-first year of the Republic of India
as follows:-
1.
Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called
the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
(2)
It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
(3)
It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 25th day of October,
1980.
2.
Restriction on the de-reservation of forests or use of forest land for
non-forest purpose. - Notwithstanding anything contained in any other
law for the time being in force in a State, no State Government or other
authority shall make, except with the prior approval of the Central Government,
any order directing -
-
that any
reserved forest (within the meaning of the expression "reserved forest"
in any law for the time being in force in that State) or any portion thereof,
shall cease to be reserved;
(ii) that
any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose;
(iii)
(1)[that
any forest land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease
or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency
or any other organisation not owned, managed or controlled by Government;
(iv)
that any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which
have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using
it for reafforestation].(2)
[Explanation_
For the purposes of this section "non-forest purpose" means the breaking
up or clearing of any forest land or portion thereof for-
-
the cultivation
of tea, coffee, spices, rubber, palms, oil-bearing plants, horticulture
crops or medicinal plants;
b) any
purpose other than reforestation,
but
does not include any work relating or ancillary to conservation, development
and management of forests and wild-life, namely, the establishment of check-posts,
fire lines, wireless communications and construction of fencing, bridges
and culverts, dams, waterholes, trench marks, boundary marks, pipelines
or other like purposes].
3.
Constitution of Advisory Committee. - The Central Government may
constitute a Committee consisting of such number of persons as it may deem
fit to advise that Government with regard to -
(i)
the grant of approval under section 2; and
-
any other
matter connected with the conservation of forests which may be referred
to it by the Central Government.
(3)[3A.
Penalty for contravention of the provisions of the Act. - Whoever contravenes
or abets the contravention of any of the provisions of section 2, shall
be punishable with simple imprisonment for a period which may extend to
fifteen days.
3B.
Offences by authorities and Government departments. - (1) Where
any offence under this Act has been committed -
a)
by any department of Government, the head of the department; or
-
by any
authority, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was
directly in charge of, and was responsible to, the authority for the conduct
of the business of the authority as well as the authority,
shall
be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded
against and punished accordingly:
Provided
that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render the head of the
department or any person referred to in clause (b), liable to any punishment
if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that
he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
-
Notwithstanding
anything contained in sub-section(1), where an offence punishable under
the Act has been committed by a department of Government or any authority
referred to in clause (b) of sub-section (1) and it is proved that the
offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable
to any neglect on the part of, any officer, other than the head of the
department, or in the case of an authority, any person other than the persons
referred to in clause (b) of sub-section (1), such officer or persons shall
also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded
against and punished accordingly].
4. Power
to make rules. - (1) The Central Government may, by notification in
the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this
Act.
-
Every
rule made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,
before each House of Parliament, while it is in session, for a total period
of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more
successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately
following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses
agree in making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that
the rule should not be made, the rule thereafter have effect only in such
modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that
any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity
of anything previously done under that rule.
5. Repeal
and saving. - (1) The Forest (Conservation) Ordinance, 1980 is hereby
repealed.
-
Notwithstanding
such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the provisions of
the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have done or taken under the corresponding
provisions of this Act.
1. Ins.
by Act 69 of 1988, sec.2(w.e.f. 15.3.1989)
2.
Subs. by Act 69 of 1988, sec.2(w.e.f. 15.3.1989)
3.
Section 3B ins. by Act 1988, sec.(w.e.f. 15.3.1989)