Protected forests should have 1 km eco-sensitive zone, no mining in national parks: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday mandated that every protected forest should have a 1 kilometre eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) where no developmental work shall be allowed, and any work underway in such areas can continue only after obtaining permission from the concerned State's Chief Forest Conservator [TN Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union Of India & Ors]..Pertinently, a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and Aniruddha Bose held that mining should not be allowed in wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. "We direct that each protected forest will have ESZ [Ecologically-Sensitive Zone] of 1 km. If ESZ is prescribed already which goes beyond 1 km buffer zone then such an extended boundary shall prevail. The Chief Conservator of Forests of each State shall make a list of subsisting structures under the ESZ, and submit a report to this Court within 3-months period," the Court said. The minimum width of the ESZ may be diluted in "overwhelming public interest but for that purpose the State or Union Territory concerned shall approach the CEC and MoEF&CC" and both these bodies shall give their respective opinions /recommendations before the Supreme Court, the bench further directed. The Bench stressed that activities currently going on in ESZ limits can continue only with the permission of the Chief Conservator of Forests. The Central Empowered Committee in this regard was directed to compute compensation for unlawful mining carried out at the Jamwa Ramgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan. .The Court further ordered that if the ESZ is already prescribed as per law that goes beyond one kilometre buffer zone, the wider margin shall prevail."If such wider buffer zone beyond one kilometre is proposed under any statutory instrument for a particular national park or wildlife sanctuary awaiting final decision in that regard, then till such final decision is taken, the ESZ covering the area beyond one kilometre as proposed shall be maintained," the order said..The top court was hearing pleas in which the Centrally-Empowered Committee (CEC) had been updating the Bench as to steps taken to remove encroachment, implementation of working plans, compensatory afforestation, plantation and other such conservation issues dealing with protection forest resources in the country. The present judgment was towards two sets of issues; mining and commercial activities in and around the Jamwa Ramgarh Wildlife sanctuary, and guidelines prescribing eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) surrounding wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.The present applicants sought modification of various extent of earlier orders of the top court towards implementing the CEC's recommendations towards demarcating ESZs, halting all mining activities and providing for exemplary compensation for the minerals already excavated, among others. In some cases, State Governments had asked for opening up of the protected forest areas and their buffer zones on which restrictions had been placed. In particular, the specific area of buffers zones in the ESZs had divergent views, which the Bench in its judgment, brought clarity to. It was argued that 1-km zones would not always be feasible and the Sanjay Gandhi and Guindy national parks already have urban activities around them.The Bench made it clear that those sanctuaries are to be treated as special cases..[Read Judgment]