 bill no xxiii  of  2007 the  forest (conservation)  amendment  bill, 2007 a billfurther to amend the forest (conservation) act, 1980be  it enacted by parliament in the fifty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1   (1) this act may be called the forest (conservation) amendment  act, 2007short title, and commencement(2) it shall come into force at once2 after section 3b of the forest (conservation) act, 1980, (hereinafter referred to as the principal act) the following section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section 3c"3c notwithstanding anything contained in sections 2 and 3, the central government may delegate all or any of its functions as enumerated therein to a particular state for carrying out developmental activities subject to the condition that the grant of approval under section 2 shall be made by a committee consisting of forest officers, environment specialists, engineers and other technical experts to be notified by that state government with the prior approval of the central government"3 in section 4 of the principal act,—amendment of section 4(i) after sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:—"provided that if the powers under section 3c have been delegated to the state government then that state government may make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act in that state (ii) after sub section (2), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:—"provided that every rule made under this act by the state government under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 4 shall be laid as soon as may be, after it is made, before the house or each house of the state legislature as the case may be, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, the house or the houses agree(s) in making any modification in the rule or the house or the houses agree(s) that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe forest (conservation) act, 1980 was enacted by the parliament to check deforestation leading to ecological imbalance and environmental degradation the parliament having enacted legislation dealing with forest conservation, the state legislature have no power to make, enact any law, regulation or rule which touches on the subject that the provisions of the act are mandatory requiring strict compliance on the pain of incurring penalties as enumerated in sections 3a and 3b of the a the latter deals with and contemplates punishment to government officers section 2 starts with a non-obstinate clause requiring prior approval of the central government before any activity on land described as reserved forest or forest land all activities except reforestation are banned there is no provision giving any discretion to the state government to initiate, extend or continue development activities, peculiar to its needshimachal pradesh has hilly and mountainous terrain covered with trees the topography of the state does not permit easy access to villages, towns and cities interlinking panchayat, tehsil, sub-divisional headquarters requires construction of roads which are the life-line of economic and social development provision of basic amenities and government facilities like schools, healthcare centres, government offices, banks, post offices, telegraph facilities, revenue offices, etc is the basic and primary constitutional duty of the state and the fundamental requirements of the inhabitants all construction activity required for provision of these services has come to a grinding halt as permission from the central government as envisaged by sections 2 and 3 is not forthcoming and takes considerable amount of time resultantly, all developmental activities are being hindered when the act was passed, it was presumed that government to government permission would not take timeconsidering the peculiar and unique topography of the hilly states and the pressing and urgent requirements of socio-economic development requiring immediate and prompt action, the mandatory requirement of prior permission from the central government should be dispensed with and ample safeguards be provided in the act to conserve ecology while at the same time speeding development activity in the statetherefore, it is proposed that after section 3b of the act, a provision may be inserted giving powers to the central government to delegate all or some of the powers under sections2 and 3 to the state government to perform such of the duties under the act as deemed necessary with the approval of a committee consisting of forest officers, environment experts, engineers and other technical experts notified by the state government with the approval of central government it is also proposed that the power to make or amend the rules may also be delegated to the state to which power under sections 2 and 3 have been delegatedviplove  thakur rajya  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the forest (conservation) act, 1980—————(shrimati viplove thakur, mp)mgipmrnd—1766rs(s-3)—27-04-2007