A “conflict of interest” in the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee could compromise the outcome of cases challenging the Forest Conservation Amendment Act, a group of retired bureaucrats and diplomats told Chief Justice BR Gavai on Monday.

In an open letter, the Constitutional Conduct Group stated that the four-member committee, set up by the court in 2002 to flag cases of official non-compliance with its environmental conservation orders, initially comprised former officials from the Ministry of Environment and independent experts.

The letter said that this ensured impartiality and prevented a conflict of interest.

However, since the ministry “seemingly had complete autonomy” in selecting the members of the Central Empowered Committee in 2023, it nominated three retired Indian Forest Service officers and a retired scientist, who had also previously worked with the Union government, it said.

Two of the members had also recently retired as director general of forests and special secretary in the Ministry of Environment, it added. “There are no independent experts on the committee,” the Constitutional Conduct Group said.

The letter said that a Central Empowered Committee consisting of officers who had held top positions in the ministry and were also closely involved in policy-making could “hardly be expected” to provide independent advice to the court.

The Constitutional Conduct Group also noted that a writ petition was filed before the Supreme Court in 2023 against the Forest Conservation Amendment Act, which claimed that the legislation would hasten the decline of forests in India.

The Act amending the 1980 Forest Conservation Act that provided legislative support for conserving forest land and its resources, came into force on December 1, 2023. Experts have claimed that the amendments were an effort to open forest land for commercial purposes.

During the hearings on the writ petition, the court had already issued four landmark orders that upheld the definition of “forests” laid down by it in the 1996 case of TN Godavarman Thirumalpad vs Union of India, the Constitutional Conduct Group said.

In the 1996 judgement, the court held that a deemed forest would not only include “forests” as understood by the dictionary meaning of the word – a large area with significant tree cover – but also any areas recorded as forests in government records, irrespective of ownership.

Noting that the writ petition was pending before the court, the letter said that the outcome of this case, along with others filed against the Forest Conservation Amendment Act, could “possibly be compromised considering the conflict of interest” of the Central Empowered Committee.

It also noted that the 2023 Forest Conservation Amendment Bill was prepared and defended before a Joint Parliamentary Committee by a Central Empowered Committee member, who was at the helm in the environment ministry at the time.

“The Forest Conservation Amendment Act 2023 which is being challenged in the Supreme Court, was also notified at that time, as were the rules under the Act and the consolidated guidelines,” it added.

The letter said that the advice of the committee in any case against the Act “will in all probability be biased in favour” of the legislation as it was passed and will “thus be a clear conflict of interest”.

The Constitutional Conduct Group noted that this concern was already reflected in a recent court order on the “zudpi”, or scrub forests, in Maharashtra.

This order issued on May 22 had relied on the advice of the Central Empowered Committee, which recommended the untrammelled use of the forests for “compensatory afforestation” after considering them ecologically inferior because they could not support dense forest cover.

In its letter, the former bureaucrats urged the court to ensure that the committee was composed not just of experts who were retired government officials but of renowned experts from outside as well.

“We request the CJI to ensure that such a CEC is not allowed to advise the honourable court in the FCAA 2023 cases before it, or be part of other such important cases in the interest of the country’s forests, wildlife and ecological security,” the letter added.

The signatories to the statement include Punjab’s former police chief Julio Ribeiro, Delhi’s former Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and former Indian Administrative Service officer Harsh Mander.

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