Supreme Court of Forest Conservation

This book is in response to the continuing demand of lawyers, activists and forest officers across the country to access the orders of the Supreme Court in the Godavarman case. The case, which started in 1995 and continues till this day has served to stir and awaken the environmental movement in the country. Across India, concerned individuals and groups are increasingly relying on the Court in order to protect forests and other natural habitats. Unfortunately, non-implementation and violations of the orders have greatly undermined the success of many of the initiatives. A major reason for the same is the lack of access to and ignorance of relevant orders and judgements of the Apex Court. Despite the plethora of decisions, most remain unreported or even if reported, are beyond the reach of local groups and activists. The present work therefore aims at filling this gap by providing lawyers, activists, organisations and most crucially, the forest department with up-to date judgements and orders (from 1996 to 2006) of the Supreme Court in the Godavarman case as well as the other major forest cases viz. the centre for Environmental Law.