What happened: Supreme Court eviction directions in the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve area
The Supreme Court issued eviction directions for encroachments in and around the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR) area and related forest landscapes. The directions relied on recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and laid out time-bound actions that include removal of encroachments, legal steps against willful violators, and ecological restoration after removals, along with measures affecting forest land use during compliance.
The Supreme Court directions described in the input included the following action components:
Eviction of encroachers through a time-bound plan.Initiating legal action against willful violators.Carrying out ecological restoration after removals.Imposing additional penalties for certain government servants found to have encroached.Dismantling structures and utilities within encroached forest areas.Blocking diversion of forest land and any new non-forest activity until removals were complete.Providing immunity from prosecution for officials involved in survey/demarcation/removal, except in cases of malafide (deliberate wrongdoing) or arbitrary (unreasonable/irrational action).Asking the CEC to recommend paramilitary deployment if compliance failed.
Background and earlier position: FRA verification is meant to come before eviction
The Forest Rights Act (FRA) is a rights-based law intended to correct historical injustice to forest-dwelling communities by recognising and vesting individual and community rights. FRA implementation uses a local, transparent process based on gram sabha verification, with decisions taken through subdivision and district committees.