HC intervenes over green felling for road construction, questions use of FRA

Shimla, October 14

Himachal Pradesh High Court has intervened in a road construction project involving forest land after noting that a proposal to fell 59 trees had been reduced to nine following judicial intervention, with the Bench restraining the state from taking any effective steps towards further construction of the road pending scrutiny of the approval process.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin C. Negi passed the order on October 12 in a petition filed by the Forest Right Committee, Nariwala, against the Union of India and others (CWPIL No. 53 of 2026). The intervention assumes importance in the backdrop of the court’s recent directions in a separate suo motu public interest litigation, CWPIL No. 96 of 2026, restraining construction and tarring of forest roads until further orders.

In the Nariwala case, the Bench noted that initially 59 trees had been proposed for felling for the road project, but the proposal was subsequently reduced to nine after the court took cognizance of the matter. Permission to fell nine trees was granted on May 6, 2026, and, according to the pleadings, those trees had also been felled.

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The court questioned the process through which forest land was being used for road construction under Section 3(2) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

The proceedings of the Forest Rights Committee dated July 24, 2020, showed that the road had been built for the convenience of the general public. Subsequent proceedings dated July 25, 2024, recorded a demand for a three-kilometre road from Shiv Mandir via Jambu Khala State Highway Pass to Jambu Khala School, for which a no-objection certificate had been given.

The Bench observed that, in view of the controversy and its earlier orders in similar cases involving roads in forest areas, the state should not take any effective steps towards construction of the road in question.

The court directed the state to file a detailed affidavit explaining how the process was being carried out and listed the matter for further hearing on December 2, 2026.

The case adds to the High Court’s scrutiny of road construction in forest areas, where the diversion of land, felling of green trees and compliance with statutory procedures have emerged as pressing environmental concerns. In CWPIL No. 96 of 2026, the court had earlier expressed concern over motorable access to ecologically fragile destinations and directed that proposals for forest clearance relating to new roads or tarring of existing roads to the sites in question be kept in abeyance.

Taken together, the proceedings signal closer judicial examination of whether road construction in forest areas is being undertaken only after the requisite permissions and statutory procedures have been followed.

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