Reserved Forest vs Protected Forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1927

The Indian Forest Act, 1927 creates three legal categories of forest: reserved forests, village forests and protected forests. The two most important are reserved and protected forests, which differ in the degree of restriction on people's use. In a reserved forest, everything is prohibited unless expressly permitted; in a protected forest, everything is permitted unless expressly prohibited. The distinction shaped colonial forest control, the rights of forest communities, and remains relevant under the forest conservation law and the Forest Rights Act.

1. Reserved Forests (Chapter II, Sections 3 to 27)

Under Section 3, the State Government may constitute any forest land or waste land that is the property of the Government, or over which it has proprietary rights or a share in forest produce, a reserved forest. The procedure is elaborate:

1. a notification under Section 4 declaring the intention to constitute the reserved forest, specifying the limits and appointing a Forest Settlement Officer;
2. a bar on the accrual of new rights after the notification (Section 5);
3. a proclamation by the Forest Settlement Officer inviting claims (Section 6), inquiry into claims, and settlement of rights by recording, commuting, or extinguishing them with compensation (Sections 7 to 19); and
4. a final notification under Section 20 declaring the forest reserved from a specified date.

After reservation, no right can be acquired except by succession or grant (Section 23), and Section 26 prohibits and penalises acts such as making fresh clearings, setting fire, trespassing or pasturing cattle, felling or damaging trees, quarrying, and hunting or fishing in contravention of rules. Rights are allowed only to the extent recorded in the settlement. Section 27 allows the State to de-reserve a reserved forest, but under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, de-reservation requires the prior approval of the Central Government.

2. Protected Forests (Chapter IV, Sections 29 to 34)

Under Section 29, the State Government may declare any forest land or waste land (not included in a reserved forest) that is the property of the Government, or over which it has proprietary rights, a protected forest. The rights of people are inquired into and recorded, but a notification may be issued even before the inquiry is complete, provided existing rights are not abridged. Under Section 30, the State may reserve particular trees or classes of trees, close portions of the forest for specified periods, and prohibit specific acts such as quarrying, removal of forest produce, clearing for cultivation, and pasturing of cattle in closed portions. Section 32 empowers rules, and Section 33 penalises breaches. Otherwise, the customary rights of local people continue.

Village forests (Chapter III, Section 28) are reserved forests assigned by the State to a village community for its use and management, a limited form of community control.

3. Key Differences

4. Relevance under Modern Law

Both reserved and protected forests are 'forest land' for the purposes of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, so any non-forest use of either requires the Central Government's prior approval. In T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India, (1997) 2 SCC 267, the Supreme Court held that 'forest' includes all forests recorded as such in government records, irrespective of ownership, and forests in the dictionary sense, so the forest conservation law applies beyond reserved and protected forests. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 recognises individual and community rights of forest dwellers in all forest lands, including reserved and protected forests, correcting the historical injustice of settlement processes that extinguished customary rights. Protected areas under the Wild Life (Protection) Act are often carved out of reserved forests. Many States have amended the penalty provisions of the 1927 Act, and minor offences under it were among those rationalised by the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023.

5. Related Topics and Provisions