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SC directs Jharkhand to declare Saranda forests as wildlife sanctuary

3 min readNew DelhiNov 13, 2025 09:35 PM IST

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Supreme Court gives Centre six weeks to respond to Sahara’s bid to sell 88 properties — including Aamby Valley to Adani Properties amid mounting claims, investor disputes, and scrutiny over undisclosed assets. (Express file photo)

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Jharkhand government to declare the Saranda forests as a wildlife sanctuary and conservation reserve, prohibiting any mining activity within a one-km radius of its boundary.

A bench of CJI B R Gavai and Justice Vinod Chandran allowed Jharkhand to exempt six of the compartments from the notification under the Management Plan for sustainable Mining (MPSM) in this area.

“We direct that the state government shall notify the area comprising 126 compartments as notified in 1968 notification, excluding six compartments…as a wildlife sanctuary within three months from the date of this judgment,” the bench ruled, and noted that “this court has time and again emphasised on the necessity to strike a balance between environmental protection and the need for development”.

Overruling the state’s plan to declare only a part of the forest as sanctuary, the bench said, “… in view of the mandate of Articles 48A and 51A(g) of the Constitution, Section 26A of the Wildlife Protection Act, and particularly in the light of the report of the Wildlife Institute of India, the State cannot run away from its duty to declare the extent of 31,468.25 hectares as Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary.”

The bench directed the state “to give wide publicity to the fact that by this judgment, neither the individual rights nor the community rights of the tribals and the forest dwellers in the said area would be adversely affected”. The state, it said, should also widely publicise the fact that “in view of the provision of… the Forest Rights Act, all rights of tribals and forest dwellers, both individually as well as of community, shall stand protected”.

The top court reiterated its direction in the 2023 Goa Foundation case that “mining within the National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, and within an area of 1 km from the boundary of such National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary shall not be permissible.”

Taking exception to the state “changing its stand time and again”, the top court said, “… We find that the state has been changing its stand time and again. Earlier, it had clearly admitted that in 126 compartments which were notified as the Saranda Game Sanctuary vide 1968 Notification (before formation of Jharkhand), neither any kind of mining excavation operations nor any diversion of Forest Land for mining purposes have been undertaken except in part of the area approximately measuring 4.31 hectares. Subsequently, the stand had been changed wherein the state submitted it is considering declaration of area measuring 57,519.41 hectare as against the original area measuring 31,468.25 hectare as a wildlife sanctuary. This stand was, yet again, changed and finally the state now proposes to notify only an area of 24,941.64 hectare as wildlife sanctuary.”

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The SC said that “National Wildlife Action Plan 2017-31 recognises the need to enhance the protected area network (broadly including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, community reserves etc.) and to demarcate boundaries for protected areas” and the plan “further stresses on in situ conservation of threatened species, and the need for immediate conservation measures including the protection of critical habitations”.