SITs Set Up to Identify Forest Land With Revenue Dept
SITs told to act on land under revenue control and return it to the forest department.
Hyderabad: The vexed issue of ownership of vast stretches of forest land and the dispute between the forest and revenue departments may be moving ahead in terms of resolution, with the forest department saying that the special investigation teams (SITs) set up for identifying forest land under revenue department control and taking repossession must submit details before September 15.
The SITs at the district level have been told to identify forest land under the revenue department’s possession and whether such land under revenue control has been allotted to private individuals or institutions for purposes other than forestry. Similar SITs, set up at the revenue division level, have been instructed by the forest department to take steps to take back possession of the land from persons or institutions in control of forest land and hand over the same to the forest department.
While there are no official estimates of just how much of forest land in the state is disputed by the revenue department as the owner of such land parcels, sources said this could run into tens of thousands of acres.
The setting up of the SITs followed orders from the Supreme Court in May this year, which made it clear that all forest departments in all states must take back control of forest land which is under revenue control and being used for non-forestry purposes or activities. Incidentally, the four-member SITs at the district and revenue division levels have only one official from the forest department.
While the SITs at the district level comprise the district collector, additional collector (revenue), district forest officer, assistant director/inspector of survey (survey and land records department), at the revenue division level the teams are to be led by the respective revenue divisional officer, a police official, a forest divisional officer, and deputy inspector of survey.
