From the courtside

MUMBAI: The foundation for the 19 petitions challenging the government’s move to re-designate non-forest land as private forests was laid in 2005. Pursuant to a June 2005 Bombay HC order to update land records regarding land reserved for forests, the state made mutation entries in the land records.

The petitioners argued that the government’s move was based on the 1956-57 notices, which had lapsed as the latter had not acted to take possession of the plots demarcated as private forests. They argued that since the affected plots were included in the city’s development plan, they had ceased to be forests. HC dismissed it, as it “presupposes that private forests are unheard of within a city or urban limit.”

Also dismissing the argument that housing societies and malls were built with proper permissions, the HC held, “The state government officers’ lapses and inaction or acts of omission and commission cannot have any impact on the interpretation of the provision in question. The understanding of the officers is not the stand of the government.”

— Anshika Misra