FIR not mandatory in cases of forest encroachment, said outgoing Karnataka PCCF Rajiv Ranjan

Against this background, the additional chief secretary sought the response of the former officer of the Indian Forest Service.

“Regarding the encroachment, the forest department is carrying out work to remove encroachment. Filing of FIR is not mandatory to clear forest encroachment. However, in some cases, an FIR has been lodged and chargesheet has been filed and action is taken to clear encroachment. Proceedings are being undertaken to remove unauthorised encroachment,” Ranjan said.

The forest department in an RTI response to activist Gireesh Achar said that since the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, it has filed 2,815 FIRs in 12 of its forest ranges in Shivamogga circle for encroachment of forest land. However, against these FIRs, only 130 chargesheets have been filed to date.

Veerendra R Patil, an environment lawyer, wrote to Khandre earlier that a provision should also be made to register online FIRs and the same should be uploaded online.

“It will help environmentalists and common citizens to see the number of FIRs against each case of forest offence in one place. This will increase transparency. With this, we will also get to know the number of chargesheets… filed against the FIRs. This will make the process more transparent. Once the FIR is uploaded, it will decrease the probability of tampering with the FIRs,” he added.

In September this year, Khandre said there is a need to facilitate the registration of FIRs in Forest Offence Cases. “(A)n online FIR registration mechanism shall be created within the department for speedy and hassle-free registering of cases…” the minister said.