Forest Act tweak comes under Supreme court scanner

An amendment in the Forest Act that allegedly resulted in vast tracts of forests losing legal protection and made them available for non-forest purposes has come under judicial scanner with the SC on Friday agreeing to examine its validity on a plea filed by a group of retired Indian Forest Service officers who alleged that the change in law “would exacerbate the ill-effects of climate change”. The petitioners alleged that the change in law would “radically undermine India’s decades-old forest governance regime”.