TAMIL NADU FOREST (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2025
L.A Bill No. 6 of 2025
A BILL FURTHER TO AMEND THE TAMIL NADU FOREST ACT, 1882.
BE it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Tamil Nadu in the Seventy-fifth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
1. (1) This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu Forest (Amendment) Act, 2025.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint.
Short title and commencement.
Tamil Nadu Act V of 1882.
Amendment of section 7.
2. In section 7 of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act, 1882 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), for the expression “the Board of Revenue”, the expression “such officer of the Revenue Department not below the rank of District Collector, as may be notified by the Government” shall be substituted.
Insertion of section 16-B.
3. After section 16-A of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—
“16-B.Declaration of compensatory afforestation land to be reserved forest.—Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Government may, by notification, declare any land transferred to the Forest Department for the purpose of compensatory afforestation under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 (Central Act 69 of 1980) and the rules made thereunder, as reserved forest.”.
Amendment of section 18.
4. In the proviso to section 18 of the principal Act, for the expression “the Board of Revenue”, the expression “such officer of the Revenue Department not below the rank of District Collector, as may be notified by the Government” shall be substituted.
Substitution of section 65.
5. For section 65 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:—
“65. Government may delegate powers.—The Government may, by notification, delegate any of the powers vested in them under sections 16, 19, 20, 22, 27 and 58 to such officer of the Revenue Department not below the rank of District Collector, as may be specified in the said notification.”.
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS.
Whenever any forest land is used for non-forest purpose, the user agency shall provide specified extent of land for the purpose of compensatory afforestation. Further, as per the Guidelines dated 24.01.2023 ssued by the Government of India on the Accredited Compensatory Afforestation,the said compensatory afforestation land should be declared as protected forest within the time frame prescribed by the Central Government. However, the procedures prescribed in sections 4 to 16 of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act, 1882 (Tamil Nadu Act V of 1882), for declaring any land as reserved forest (same as protected forest) are elaborate and time consuming. Hence, in order to declare the compensatory afforestation lands as reserved forests expeditiously, it has been decided to make a special provision on the lines of section 16-A of the said Act.
2. Further, for constituting a land as reserved forest under the Tamil Nadu Act V of 1882, the Government are required to issue two Notifications, one under section 4 of that Act to declare their intention and another under section 16 of that Act to declare that land as reserved forest. As the above requirement to issue Notifications on two occasions by the Government has resulted in considerable delay in constitution of reserved forest, it is felt necessary to delegate the powers of the Government to issue Notification under section 16 of the said Act to an officer of the Revenue Department not below the rank of District Collector by amending section 65 of the said Act.
3. The Government have, therefore, decided to amend the said Tamil Nadu Act V of 1882 suitably.
4. The Bill seeks to give effect to the above decision.
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