Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill – A Potential Solution For A Potent Problem

Author: Abhishek Chansoria, (2nd Year student of IIT Kharagpur Law School)

Amid the chaotic and inefficient Parliament’s monsoon session, some key legislation could not see the light of the day. Shadowed under the highly debated GST Bill or the Land Acquisition Bill was the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2015.

The Hon'ble Supreme Court in its order in GodavarmanThirumulpad v. Union of India [Writ Petition (C) No. 202 of 1995], dated 30th October, 2002, observed that a Compensatory Afforestation Fund may be created in which all the monies received from the user agencies shall be deposited which shall be utilized for plantations, protection of forests, wildlife protection and other related activities.

Source: wikimedia.org (labeled for reuse)

By introducing additional compensatory afforestation on the parties using the diverted forest land for non-forest use under the Forest (Conservation) Act, the bill envisages to create a mechanism to give tangible compensation to the forest cover and the nature.

Interestingly, a temporary structure created by the Supreme Court namely the ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) has an unspent amount of more than Rs. 3,80,00,00,00,000/- (Thirty Eight Thousand Crores).

With the provisions for constitution of two authorities, at the National and State level, the Bill seems very promising. The National CAMPA consists of an Executive Committee and a Monitoring Group and the State CAMPA would have a Steering Committee and an Executive Committee. The most effective part of the whole act seems to be the constitution of these committees which is done under Section 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Bill. With the emanation of the environmental jurisprudence in India, several authorities have been constituted. The above-referred sections name heads of various authorities, initiatives and started by the Government along with the inclusion of environmentalists and NGOs.

The Bill delegates the powers to make rules regarding the investment of the monies in the Fund to the National and State Authority along with the provisions for audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.

The Bill recognizes it to be a key authority which is reflected by its constitution. The provisions for striving for working with transparency and accountability are included in the Bill.

As it has not yet passed by the Parliament, some of the issues which are prima facie evident in the Bill could be addressed for avoiding future ambiguity.

One of the issues which are not included in the Bill is the jurisdiction of the courts in the matter of disputes. The investments might also include the investments in more than one state. Disputes arising out of these arrangements logically seem to be addressed under Article 131 of the Constitution but whether the National Green Tribunal should have any say in these or any other disputes is yet to be answered under the legislation.

Another key issue is the procedure for disqualification and the nature of enquiry which should be followed. The Bill does talk about who would be disqualified to be a member of any of the two authorities but the procedure of determining the same is yet to be formulated.

This is a key piece of legislation which has taken another step towards environmental protection by including affirmative and compensatory actions. The Supreme Court has done a commendable job by taking up this issue and giving necessary guidelines which have been well reflected in the proposed Bill. Only if good intentions could lead to good governance, hence, proper execution of the Bill is important. It could either be another one of the Act which only has ‘environment protection’ in its objectives or could be a reason for a watershed event to finally address the issue substantially.

Disclaimer: This blog or any post thereof is not to be considered to be in any way associated with the official stand of IIT kharagpur or RGSOIPL on the issues being discussed in the said post. The opinions on the blog are the authors own and should not be considered as legal advice.