India, Feb. 5 -- The Supreme Court has ordered the Centre and state governments to refrain from taking any steps that will lead to 'reduction of forests'.

The interim order was delivered by a bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran on February 3, 2025. The court was hearing a number of petitions challenging the amendments to the 2023 Forest Conservation Act 1980 now renamed as Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.

The amended Act circumvented the December 12, 1996 order of the Supreme Court in the landmark T N Godavarman v Union of India judgment and restricted the definition of forest land, thereby enabling exemptions for various activities and projects under the purview of the Act, the petitioners had alle...