Environment ministry writes to states about penalties for illegal use of forest land

The environment ministry has written a letter to the forest departments of all states and Union territories, raising concerns pertaining to compliance with guidelines prescribing penal compensatory afforestation (PCA) in cases involving violations of the forest-conservation law. The letter, issued on Monday, said the states, while submitting compliance to the stage-I approvals for cases where PCA has been levied, are sending just undertakings from violating agencies, instead of furnishing complete details of the PCA as required in the guidelines. ''Submission of incomplete compliance, without fulfilling penal compensatory afforestation requirements, is leading to delays in grant of Stage-II approval, as the ministry is constrained to seek requisite compliance again,'' the letter said. PCA refers to afforestation work to be undertaken over and above the compensatory afforestation specified in the guidelines issued under the conservation law, in place of the extent of area over which non-forestry activities have been carried out without obtaining prior approval from the competent authority under the law. The ministry issued guidelines on January 21, prescribing the procedure for levying PCA in lieu of forest land used in violation of the law. To tackle the situation, the ministry, in its letter, said, ''Compliance of Stage-I approval in all cases granted prior to 21.01.2026, wherein it was stipulated that penal compensatory afforestation (PCA) provisions would be applicable, shall be submitted along with full compliance'' of PCA, in accordance with the guidelines. The submissions need to be supported by a verification report from the regional office regarding the suitability of the land proposed for such PCA, according to the letter. Compliance of stage-I approval in all cases granted on January 21 or after, wherein penal compensatory afforestation has been levied, also needs to follow a similar procedure.

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