The Supreme Court has refused to roll back its directions requiring states and Union territories to constitute special investigation teams (SITs) to identify reserved forest land illegally diverted to private entities and restore it to forest departments.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on August 18 dismissed a curative petition filed against its May 15, 2025 judgment in the case of Richie Rich Cooperative Housing Society (RRCHS), which was allotted 11.89 hectares of land falling within a reserved forest area in Pune, Maharashtra, in October 1999. Ashok Hurra (2002). The five-judge curative bench noted the serious allegations recorded in the May 2025 judgment, which showed the role of the then Maharashtra revenue minister and then divisional commissioner, who ensured the allotment of land to the housing society by bypassing the Forest Conservation Act. Even objections raised by bureaucrats on the land meant for agricultural purposes were sidelined, and a 1996 top court verdict in the landmark TN Godavarman case, which gave an expansive meaning to the definition of forests under the Forest Conservation Act, was overlooked. The Richie Rich case served as a stark example where the court noted that the allotted land in Kondhwa Budruk village, earmarked as reserved forest, was initially allotted for agricultural purposes in August 1998. The court quashed the environmental clearance granted by the Union environment ministry on July 3, 2007, to RRCHS and directed possession of the subject land to be handed over to the forest department within three months.
The allotment was set aside by the top court, with the case serving as an eye-opener for the court to direct all states and Union territories to identify reserved forest land being diverted to private parties. “In our opinion, no case to entertain this curative petition is made out within the parameters indicated by this court in the case of Rupa Ashok Hurra vs.
Hence, the curative petition is dismissed,” the curative plea decided by a bench also comprising justices Vikram Nath, BV Nagarathna, Augustine George Masih and K Vinod Chandran said. Subsequently, permission was given for its sale in favour of RRCHS on October 30, 1999, which the court held to be “illegal”. The court had held, “The present matter is a classic example as to how the nexus between the politicians, bureaucrats and the builders can result in the conversion of precious forest land for commercial purposes under the garb of resettlement of people belonging to the backward class from whose ancestors, agricultural land was acquired for public purpose,” it added.
