Wednesday, Aug 13, 2003
Wednesday, Aug 13, 2003 |
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Kerala
By Our Special Correspondent
The change accepted by the Revenue Minister, K.M. Mani, who piloted the Bill, pertained to the description of the person whom it proposed to empower with the right to cut trees without obtaining permission from the authorities. The phrase ``the registered holder or patta holder of any land'' was replaced with ``the owner of any land'', as suggested by the CPI(M) MLA, T.K. Devakumar. Through this amendment, a new sub-section has been added to Section 4 of the 1986 parent Act. The sub-section, as passed by the Assembly, says that: ``Notwithstanding anything contained in this section (Section 4 of the parent Act) or any judgement, decree or order of any court, the owner of any land shall have the right to cut or cause to be cut any tree, other than a tree as defined in clause (e) of Section 2, standing on such land, without obtaining a permission under this section.'' Several members, including those belonging to the ruling front, expressed the apprehension that the Bill would pave the way for large-scale felling of trees from the forests of the State. Mr. Mani said the fear was unfounded. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, sarcastically suggested that the Bill be renamed ``The Kerala Permitting Unlimited Plunder of Timber Wealth Bill, 2003''. From the side of the ruling front, the Congress MLA, K.C. Joseph, warned that, if the amendment was not properly worded, the wooded tracts being distributed to tribal families would be cleared of trees ``within no time'' by the timber lords. The poor tribals could be duped easily, he added. The CPI(M) Independent MLA, Mangalamkuzhi Ali, said the real objective of the 1986 parent Act was to check indiscriminate felling of trees from the forests of the State by introducing a mechanism to trace the origin of each log of wood that reached the private timber mills in the State. The parent Act, in fact, was not an inconvenience to the holder of a small extent of land since it allowed him to cut trees standing within one hectare of the compound where he had his residence without permission from the authorities. By not specifying the extent of the land from where the owner of a plot could cut trees without permission, the Government was trying to help big estate owners and timber lords, he alleged. Mr. Mani noted that the restriction on cutting 10 species of trees (sandalwood, teak, rosewood, irul, chempavu, kampakam, chempakam, chadachi, chandana vempu and cheeni) as specified in clause (e) of Section 2 of the parent Act would remain intact even after this amendment. Referring to the apprehension of some members that the amendment would free all cardamom growers from the existing ban on cutting trees from the forests leased to them for cultivation, Mr. Mani said: ``You are trying to create a smokescreen of baseless fears. As per the Cardamom Lease Rules, the Government reserves complete right over the trees growing in the land leased for cultivation''. The Minister maintained that the sole objective of this amendment to the parent Act was to remove the inconvenience that an ``arbitrary order'' of the High Court had caused to the holders of small extents of land in Wayanad district. Following this court order banning felling of trees in the district, all timber-related activities in the area had come to a standstill, he added.
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