Greens hail verdict as landmark

K.S. Sudhi
KOCHI,  
The Hindu, November 22, 2014 

The State government is yet to decide on the proposed amendments to the Kerala Forest (vesting and Management of Ecological Fragile Land) Act 2003 even as the High Court of Kerala upheld its constitutional validity on Monday.

It was in December last that the State government initiated a move to provide small-time farmers who missed the opportunity to question the notification within the timeframe one more chance to challenge it. The amendments suggested to the law are pending with the government, sources said.

Meanwhile, ecologists hailed the High Court verdict as a landmark one in the ecological conservation history of the State.

The judgement will have a significant impact in protecting the ecology of the State and drinking water sources, points out E. Kunhikrishnan, one of the EFL campaigners. The order would help in protecting some of the highly ecologically sensitive areas of the Western Ghats, says Prof. Kunhikrishnan.

Notification

The State government had notified nearly 14,300 hectares as EFL for the “conservation and management of ecologically fragile lands, minimising the reduction of degradation of the ecosystem, and biological diversity.”

It was in December 2013 that the State notified EFL last. That time, around 550 hectares spread in some districts including Wayanad and Idukki was notified. No one has challenged it as the deadline for appeal ended this June, the sources say.

V.D. Satheesan, Congress legislator, feels that the misuse of provisions of the Act and harassment of small farmers on the pretext of enforcing the notification created reservations against conservation in the State. The State government, while taking forward the identification and notification of the ecologically sensitive land in the wake of the court judgment, should also take steps for helping small-time farmers whose holdings have been wrongly notified, he says.

Prof. Kunhikrishnan, who was also involved in the verification of EFL notifications in a few districts, suggests that relief be extended to small-time farmers whose holdings have been wrongly notified by the Forest Department. He also suggests that the State notify ecologically sensitive land after paying compensation, as envisaged in Section 4 of the Act.

At the same time, P.C. Cyriac, a member of the Kerala government committee on the recommendations of the Kasturirangan committee, sticks to his earlier controversial stand of scrapping the Act.

The EFL Act was brought in with limited purposes. As the Act has served its purpose, it should be repealed, he demands.