In a major development that may further threaten the already scarce forest cover in Punjab, the state government in keen to remove Section 4 of the Punjab Land Conservation Act from about 1 lakh acre. The government has moved a case before the Union government to get the said section removed from the Act. At present most of the forest lands in Punjab are private property. The deforestation in these lands is prohibited under Section 4 of the said Act. Under it, owners of the forest lands are not permitted to cut trees without the permission of the Forest Department.