Last Updated: 24.04.25

In 1996, the Supreme Court had defined forest as a dense growth of trees and underbrush covering a large area. The court had stipulated that the provisions enacted in the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 must apply to all deemed forests (Vansadrushya – Marathi term for Forest Alike), irrespective of their ownership or classification.

As per this judgment, the word ‘forest’ must be understood according to its dictionary meaning and covers all statutorily recognized forests, whether designated as reserved, protected or otherwise, for the purpose of Section 2(1) of the Forest Conservation Act. The term ‘forest land’ occurring in Section 2, the judgement declared, would include not only “forest”as understood in the dictionary sense, but also any area recorded as ‘forest’in government records irrespective of the ownership.

In 2001, the Supreme Court ordered the Government of Maharashtra to conduct a survey of the forest and non-forest land of Matheran i.e. 512 plots that must be surveyed irrespective of the ownership of the land, and report on the forest and tree cover.

In 2011, ten years after the Supreme Court order, the Revenue Department of the Government of Maharashtra had surveyed only 155 plots of the 512 plots in Matheran.

And, the surveyed plots had been demarcated as a“Tree Conservation Zone”by the Maharashtra Planning Committee in the Development Plan submitted to the Government of Maharashtra.

Tree Conservation Zone is a new term coined to replace the old No Development Zone and has the same intent —to disallow construction but permit activities such as agriculture, horticulture, nurseries, parks and gardens.

BEAG pointed out that allowing activities such as agriculture, horticulture, nurseries, parks and gardens would be inconsistent with the ESZ notification.

BEAG also drew attention to several discrepancies in the Revenue Department’s survey and maps, for example the fact that the compilation submitted by the Range Forest Officer contained information for 202 plots but had provided maps for only 155 plots, and the fact that the maps did not contain legends or use uniform colours for indicating forested areas.

BEAG brought these discrepancies to the attention of the Monitoring Committee for Matheran ESZ. The matter came up for discussion at the Monitoring Committee meeting held in September 2012.

However, the term of the Monitoring Committee came to an end in 2014.

BEAG continued to persistently follow up with the Collector of Raigad and was finally assured by the Collector, in response to BEAG’s various representations, that the survey of the remaining plots would be completed within two months.

In February 2018, the Collector of Raigad directed the Karjat Deputy Superintendent of Land Records and the Alibag Forest Conservator to complete the survey of the remaining plots within a month and submit their reports.

BEAG has been informed that the survey has been completed and is currently following up with the Government of Maharashtra that it be included in the Development Plan as Deemed Forest/Vansadrushya.