How Serious is the FAC that Decides the Fate of Our Country's Forests and Wildlife?

Is the environment ministry green-lighting diversion of forest lands without meeting the required norms? It would seem so from looking at the minutes of some meetings of the all-important Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) which gives the final clearance for such diversion.

Minutes of meetings held on 25 April and 17 May this year had only two members present although section 5 of the Forest ( Conservation ) Rules, 2003 empowered by the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, clearly says that the quorum or minimum presence of members has to be three.

This committee has been speedily clearing applications for diversion of forest land to other purposes in the recent past. A few days back it was reported that the FAC has approved a massive diversion of 91,798 hectares forest lands for other uses.

The FAC came into being after the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was enacted. It comprises seven members - four senior officials from the ministry and three non-official members who have to be “eminent experts in forestry and allied disciplines”. It is chaired by the Director General of Forests.

“Under exceptional circumstances, the chairperson can circulate the agenda and get a decision from absent members but in the normal course, the quorum has to be there. This is especially so if sensitive matters are to be decided upon,” Pusph Jain of Environment Impact Assessment Resource and Response Centre (ERC) told Newsclick.

Reports [TOI] suggest that in August, three meetings were held to clear projects involving 15,027 hectare forest land. Only two proposals out of the 134 project proposals before the FAC were rejected. 70 projects were recommended for diversion while the rest were deferred.

ERC has stated that in a single meeting, 61,278 hectare (613 sq km) for forest land was approved to be de-classified as forest area.

Speaking to Newsclick Push Jain, said that the proposal to denotify a portion of the forest land that is home to endangered species is in direct violation of the forest laws.

“In the previous year for the same period, only 4100 hectares of forest land was approved. There has to be a precautionary principle while making recommendations. FAC should be for the forests and not the corporates. They should be the voice of the forests and wildlife,” he said.

Pushp Jain recounts the corporate influences that are detrimental to the forest conservation and wildlife protection also exists. He cites the example of the Elephant Reserve that was proposed by the Chhattisgarh government. It received the central government's approval and when the CII got hint of the, project they wrote to the government to shift the project to some other area and the project had to be shelved.

Jain said the non-official expert members should be vigilant and said in once instance a member protested and resigned. That may be the reason why ministry officials are getting decisions by circulating agenda among themselves, bypassing potential dissent from the non-official experts.

Sample of the minutes of the meeting which decide the fate of forests and forest life in the country are approved.

Screen shots of the minutes approved

Minutes approved on April 25, 2017

minutes approved on May 16th, 2017

The FAC is mandated to have a minimum of three members present to form a quorum. However, in the above screen shots it can be seen that only two members were present for approving the minutes. Does it mean that most of the meetings where the FAC did not have a three member quorum are not according to law and can be challenged in court?

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick.