Bombay HC Rules State Cannot Declare Private Forest Without Following Due Process, Orders Review Of Similar Cases

Mumbai, August 3, 2026: In a significant ruling that could impact hundreds of land disputes across Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court has held that the State government cannot declare land as a “private forest” without strictly following the procedure prescribed under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.

A bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande, while disposing of a batch of petitions under the Maharashtra Private Forests (Acquisition) Act, 1975, pulled up the government for repeatedly ignoring binding Supreme Court rulings.

The court also directed the State to review similar cases and restore revenue records wherever landowners were wrongly deprived of their rights.

The judgment was pronounced on July 23, but the detailed 177-page order was made available on Monday.

Procedure must be followed

The bench held that before any land can vest in the State as a private forest under the 1975 Act, authorities must comply with Section 35 of the Indian Forest Act.

This includes issuing a notice to the landowner, giving an opportunity to file objections, considering those objections and thereafter issuing a notification under Section 35(1). Without this process, land cannot vest in the State under the 1975 Act, it added.

Examining the petitions, the court found that in several cases no notice had been issued under Section 35(3) and no valid notification had been published under Section 35(1). It consequently quashed the mutation entries recording the land as private forest and directed revenue authorities to restore the names of the landowners.

The bench expressed concern that despite clear Supreme Court rulings, the State continued to proceed on what it described as the “misconception” that every forest land existing on August 30, 1975, automatically became private forest vested in the government.

“It is really unfortunate” that even after the apex court settled the issue in 2014 and reiterated it in 2025, “the State Government continued with its obstinacy even today,” the judges observed.

State told to review cases

Reminding the government of its constitutional obligations, the bench noted: “We expect the State Government to follow the mandate laid down by the Apex Court… no one is above law.”

To prevent similar disputes from repeatedly reaching the High Court, the judges directed the State to constitute a committee headed by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Conservator of Forest to scrutinise all cases involving private forest claims.

“It is high time that the State Government should be conscious of the fact that, if a flaw lies at its end… there can be no declaration about any land to be ‘Private Forest’,” the bench observed.

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The court further directed the State to review all pending cases and, wherever the legal principles laid down in the judgment apply, instruct the Revenue Department to restore the names of owners and occupiers in land records.

It clarified, however, that the ruling only determines whether land can be treated as a private forest under the 1975 Act and does not decide its status under any other forest or environmental law.

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