The law minister Veerappa Moily says judicial activism has fuelled naxalism. He particularly cites the landmark Godavarman case as one pushing the tribals into the naxal fold. As a matter of fact, the landmark judgment in Godavarman case has, among other things, taught the government the definition of the word “forest”. Till then the forests were defined depending upon the ownership of the land and the existing classification by the state. There were vast barren pieces of land passing as forests and many forests were not classified as forests. It is the 1996 Godavarman judgment that decided for the government that a piece of land with heavy tree cover was to be treated as forest under the law.
It is this Godavarman judgment that has given the Supreme Court of India the reputation of being “perhaps the only judiciary in the world who has devoted so much time effort and innovativeness in protecting forests.”
Dr Mookhi Amir Ali
Mumbai, M.S.