NGT stops school construction on forest land in Jajpur

By ARINDAM GANGULY, OP Bhubaneswar: The National Green Tribunal has barred the block development officers of Danagadi and Sukinda in Jajpur district from continuing construction of government schools on forest-category land without first securing the required statutory clearances, official sources said on Monday. The Eastern Zone Bench of the NGT issued the order on October 30 in response to a petition filed by Kailash Chandra Nayak, a resident of Nuadihi village in Jajpur district. In his plea, he alleged large-scale construction of school infrastructure on forest land without the mandatory approval of the competent authorities.

The petitioner challenged construction work related to 84 schools in Danagadi and 94 schools in Sukinda blocks, claiming that forest land was being diverted for non-forest use without prior permission from the Centre. The matter pertains to Original Application 109/2025/EZ. It was first heard by the tribunal on July 7, 2025, when notices were issued to the state government, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Jajpur collector and other officials, asking them to file their responses to the allegations.

During later hearings, the Forest Department told the tribunal that it had received 170 proposals for regularisation of forest-category land already occupied by schools. Of these, 107 proposals — 50 from Sukinda and 57 from Danagadi — were approved at the district level, while the remaining proposals were sent ahead for consideration after site inspections. However, the tribunal made it clear that the regularisation process could not be ignored or bypassed.

It directed the authorities to obtain the necessary prior approval or ex-post facto approval from the Centre or the appropriate authority, as required. The tribunal also observed that construction of government schools without following the prescribed procedure may be considered irregular, though not necessarily wholly illegal. It further referred to Section 3 of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which allows diversion of forest land for certain government facilities, including schools, subject to specific conditions, such as a ceiling of 75 trees per hectare.

The tribunal also noted that requests for ex-post facto approval could be considered in light of the Forest Rights Act and the Right to Education Act, 2009. “...the present original application is allowed and the user agency- BDO, Danagadi and BDO, Sukinda are restrained from raising any further construction over the forest land in question as per applicability of the provisions of the Forest Act, 1980 now the Van Adhiniyam, 1980 until ex-post facto/prior approval of Central Government/competent authority, as the case may be, is obtained under the same in accordance with law/the prescribed procedure,” Judicial Member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member Ishwar Singh ordered. Orissa POST – Odisha’s No.1 English Daily