Govt cancels forest dept’s NOC to Sahara

Subsequently, the department issued a conditional NOC on April 27, 1995, after obtaining an assurance from SIHL that it would not violate the Forest Acts.

The forest department’s decision came in for much flak from senior officials, who said that it was improper on the part of the department to grant such an NOC, particularly when the 163 hectares of forest land had been “illegally” purchased by SIHL.

The high-level Warty Committee which probed into the controversial project also referred to the forest land. As per official records, 163 hectares of the land had been acquired by the forest department under the Maharashtra Private Forest (Acquisition) Act and accordingly the necessary notifications had been issued. However, the department does not have copies of the notifications.

“Though the notifications are not available, we have the quasi-judicial orders passed by the sub-divisional officer of Mawal and Mulshi tehsils of Pune districts,” a senior official told The Indian Express. He added that now the department would initiate action to get back the forest land from SIHL. SIHL has so far obtained a record number of 13 NOCs from different authorities including the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board and the Ministry of Defence. Following an uproar in the State Legislature in March, the Sena-BJP had restrained all development activities of SIHL on May 13.