Supreme Court on Forests Preservation: There is a dire need to save forests across the country: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the country has made a very serious and important comment regarding the continuously unbalanced environment and shrinking forests in the country. Supreme Court Advocating environmental protection from a nationwide perspective on Thursday, he said that today there is a dire need to save forests across India on a war footing. The court especially underlined that there are some selected states of the country like Jharkhand, which still have a very rich and rare natural ecosystem, which is extremely important to be preserved and protected for the coming generations.

This important observation was made by a division bench of Supreme Court Chief Justice (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana while hearing a special leave petition filed by the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB).

During the hearing, Chief Justice Surya Kant, while directly addressing the senior advocate appearing in the court on behalf of JSPCB, said, “There are only a few states left in India where we can completely save our original and natural ecosystem and your state (Jharkhand) is one of them.” The bench further said in an emotional and serious tone that in some parts of the country, dense and rich forests like ‘Natural Paradise’ still exist, and it is very important to protect them at the legal and administrative level.

What is the whole legal matter?

The Supreme Court was actually hearing a petition challenging the decision and order of the Jharkhand High Court, which was issued to protect the environment and forests in the state. Historic directive of January: Earlier in January this year, Jharkhand High Court had given a strict directive to the state government and the Pollution Control Board. Under this, there was a complete ban on allowing any type of stone mining or setting up of stone crusher plants which harm the environment within the 1 kilometer radius (buffer zone) of the designated geographical boundaries of all the notified and ‘protected forests’ within the state.

Follow-up order of April: After this, in the month of April last, the High Court had issued some more stringent guidelines related to Environmental No Objection Certificate and Consent to Operate near the boundaries of forests or forest land. The matter regarding the practicality of this order has now reached the threshold of the country’s biggest court.

Eyes are on mining and environmental balance

The Supreme Court’s decision to call forests a ‘natural paradise’ without stopping the harsh stance taken by the Jharkhand High Court clearly indicates that the court is in favor of striking a balance between development and environment. Legal experts believe that after this tough stance of the Supreme Court, the clampdown on illegal mining and stone crusher lobbies running near the forests in Jharkhand and other tribal and forest states of the country is certain to be further tightened.