The Supreme Court ruled that the allotment of 11.89 hectares of reserved forest land in Pune for non-forest purposes violated Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the public trust doctrine. It quashed the illegal allotment to private builders, ordered restoration of the land to the Forest Department, and mandated a nationwide audit of similarly diverted forest lands. The judgment reaffirmed the state’s fiduciary duty to protect forest resources and prohibited their conversion for commercial use without Central approval. Violations were held irreparable even under the doctrine of desuetude.
Facts Of The Case:
The case involved 11.89 hectares of reserved forest land in Pune’s Kondhwa Budruk village, originally notified under the Indian Forest Act, 1878. In 1968, the land was temporarily leased to the Chavan family for agriculture, but the lease was never renewed after 1969. Despite this, in 1998, the Maharashtra government illegally allotted the forest land to the Chavan family, claiming it was compensation for their ancestral land acquired for a leprosy hospital. The government ignored objections from forest officials and violated the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, which mandates central approval for any forest land diversion. Within months, the Chavan family sold the land to Richie Rich Cooperative Housing Society (RRCHS) for commercial development, facilitated by suspiciously swift approvals from revenue authorities. The Pune Municipal Corporation even issued construction permits, and the Environment Ministry granted clearance in 2007. Environmental groups challenged these actions in the Supreme Court, highlighting how politicians, bureaucrats, and builders colluded to usurp protected forest land. Investigations revealed forged documents and blatant disregard for environmental laws. The court noted the land was still recorded as forest in official records, and its diversion for real estate development was illegal. The case exposed systemic corruption in forest land allotments across Maharashtra, prompting the court to order a nationwide audit of similar violations.
Procedural History:
The case originated in 2007 when Nagrik Chetna Manch filed I.A. No. 2079 in the ongoing T.N. Godavarman forest conservation matter (W.P.(C) No. 202/1995), challenging the illegal diversion of Pune’s forest land. The Supreme Court directed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to investigate, which in its 2008 report confirmed the illegal allotment and recommended criminal action against involved officials and builders. RRCHS subsequently filed I.A. Nos. 2301-2302/2008 challenging Maharashtra’s notices to reclaim the land, while Greenfield Cooperative Housing Society filed I.A. Nos. 3044-3045/2011 claiming similar rights. The case saw prolonged litigation as RRCHS produced allegedly forged 1944 documents claiming the land wasn’t forested, which a 2024 CID probe exposed as fabricated. Over 18 years, the Court examined extensive evidence of bureaucratic collusion before delivering its 2025 judgment, which expanded the original Godavarman case’s scope by ordering a nationwide audit of all illegally diverted forest lands under Revenue Departments across India. The procedural journey exposed systemic failures in forest governance while reinforcing the Supreme Court’s monitoring role in environmental matters through continuing mandamus.
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Court Observation:
The Supreme Court made scathing observations about the systematic subversion of environmental laws in this case. It noted how Maharashtra’s revenue authorities deliberately ignored the forest status of the land, evidenced by (a) the 1879 reservation notification, (b) consistent forest department records, and (c) the Collector’s own 1994 communication categorizing it as forest land. The Bench condemned the “alarming speed” with which approvals were granted in 1998 – from the Law Department’s flawed opinion (27/7/1998) to allotment orders (4-28/8/1998) – calling it a “classic case of nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and builders.” It rejected the desuetude argument, observing the land never lost its forest character despite non-renewal of the 1968 lease. Most significantly, the Court expanded the public trust doctrine, holding that states cannot abdicate their fiduciary duty to protect forests even for compensatory purposes, and that all forest lands under Revenue Departments must be transferred to Forest Departments. The judgment systematically dismantled the defense of bona fide purchasers by exposing pre-allotment builder agreements with the Chavan family through 1995-98 documents.
Final Decision & Judgement:
The Supreme Court delivered a decisive judgment canceling the illegal allotment of 11.89 hectares of reserved forest land in Pune’s Kondhwa Budruk area, ruling that the Maharashtra government’s 1998 allocation to the Chavan family and subsequent transfer to builders violated Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the public trust doctrine. The Court ordered the immediate restoration of the land to the Forest Department, quashed all related approvals including the 2007 environmental clearance for commercial construction, and mandated a nationwide audit of similarly diverted forest lands across all states and union territories. Significantly, the judgment directed state governments to either physically reclaim illegally allotted forest lands or recover their market value for afforestation purposes, while requiring the transfer of all revenue-held forest lands to forest departments within a fixed timeline. The Court reinforced the absolute prohibition on non-forest use of protected lands without central approval and established institutional mechanisms to prevent future violations, though it left criminal prosecution of involved officials and private parties to the state government’s discretion, focusing instead on systemic reforms to safeguard India’s forest resources through its continuing mandamus in the Godavarman case.
Case Details:
Case Title: In Re: Construction of Multi Storeyed Buildings in Forest Land Maharashtra (Connected with T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India & Ors.) Citation: 2025 INSC 701 (Reportable) Jurisdiction: Civil Original Jurisdiction (Continuing Mandamus in W.P.(C) No. 202 of 1995) Date of Judgment: May 15, 2025 Bench: Chief Justice B.R. Gavai & Justice Augustine George Masih & Justice K. Vinod Chandran
Download The Judgement Here