Section 4 in The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023
4.Insertion of new section 1A.
After section 1 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—1A. Act to cover certain land.(1)The following land shall be covered under the provisions of this Act, namely:—(a)the land that has been declared or notified as a forest in accordance with the provisions of the Indian ForestAct, 1927 or under any other law for the time being in force;(b)the land that is not covered under clause (a), but has been recorded in Government record as forest, as on or after the 25th October, 1980:Provided that the provisions of this clause shall not apply to such land, which has been changed from forest use to use for non-forest purpose on or before the 12th December, 1996 in pursuance of an order, issued by any authority authorised by a State Government or an Union territoryAdministration in that behalf.Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, the expression"Government record" means record held by Revenue Department or Forest Department of the State Government or Union territory Administration, or any authority, local body, community or council recognised by the State Government or Union territory Administration.(2)The following categories of land shall not be covered under the provisions of thisAct, namely:—(a)such forest land situated alongside a rail line or a public road maintained by the Government, which provides access to a habitation, or to a rail, and roadside amenity up to a maximum size of 0.10 hectare in each case;(b)such tree, tree plantation or reafforestation raised on lands that are not specified in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-section (1); and(c)such forest land,—(i)as is situated within a distance of one hundred kilometres along international borders or Line of Control or Line ofActual Control, as the Amendment of section 1.Act to cover certain land.(ii)up to ten hectares, proposed to be used for construction of security related infrastructure; or(iii)as is proposed to be used for construction of defence related project or a camp for paramilitary forces or public utility projects, as may be specified by the Central Government, the extent of which does not exceed five hectares in a Left Wing Extremism affected area as may be notified by the Central Government.(3)The exemption provided under sub-section (2) shall be subject to such terms and conditions, including the conditions of planting trees to compensate felling of trees undertaken on the lands, as the Central Government may, by guidelines, specify.’.
