PIL challenges validity of forest Act
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20/02/2008
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Times Of India (New Delhi)
New Delhi: In what could be a fresh headache for government, a petition challenging the constitutional validity of a pet UPA project, the Forest Rights Act aimed at giving land rights to traditional forest dwellers, has been filed by prominent wildlife groups in Supreme Court. If accepted, the case could be a spoke in the wheel for the government which has backed the forest law after considerable opposition from wildlife lobbies. The move by the Mumbai-based Bombay Natural History Society, Delhi-based Wildlife Trust of India and Bhubaneswar-based Wildlife Society of Orissa marks another chapter in this confrontation. The PIL also shows that the truce the Congress leadership had tried to thrash out with tiger conservationists to keep protected areas