The Kerala High Court on Monday upheld the Constitutional validity of the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile lands) Act 2003, known popularly as the EFl Act, which enabled the Government to determine and take over ecologically fragile lands (EFls) from land-holders.
With this order of a division bench of the court comprising Acting Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice PR Ramachandra Menon, which dismissed 56 petitions seeking declaration of the Act as invalid and unconstitutional, the Government’s act of taking over 45,000 acres of ecologically sensitive land spread across various districts got legal validity.
The court, however, said evidence and spot position had to be considered for determining the claim of each landowner over the land he held. For this, the landowners could approach the custodian of vested forests within a month and the custodian should take a decision in three months’ time, it said.
This rider was also applicable to lands notified according to the Ordinance promulgated during 2000-2001, as per the division bench’s order. landowners whose holdings were notified as eco-fragile lands after the passage of the Act would have to approach the Forest Tribunal which should take a decision within six months, the court said.
The petitioners said they would challenge the High Court order in the Supreme Court. The Ecologically Fragile lands Act was passed for providing for the vesting in the Government of EFls and for the management of such lands with a view to maintaining ecological balance and conserving biodiversity.
The High Court judgement, which is sure to prove to be a milestone in cases pertaining to ecology, came at a time when complaints were being raised about the alleged efforts of a section in the Congress-led UDF Government to weaken the law by amending it to spare farmers and plantation owners holding a specific area of land.