Hasdeo-Arand & Kente Extension Coal Block: Forest Clearance and Environmental Law

Hasdeo-Arand and the Kente Extension Coal Block: Environmental Clearance, Biodiversity, and the Law

On 24 June 2026, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) granted environmental clearance (EC) for mining operations at the Kente Extension integrated coal block located in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo-Arand forest region. The block is projected to produce 9 million tonnes of coal per annum. This decision, recommended by the Ministry’s sectoral Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), comes after an earlier in-principle Stage-I forest clearance was accorded for the same integrated block. The developer-operator is the Adani Group, and the coal extracted is to be supplied to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL) power plants in Rajasthan. Local communities have vocally opposed the project on grounds of large-scale deforestation, and the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) conducted a biodiversity assessment of the area prior to the EC being issued.

What Is Hasdeo-Arand, and Why Does It Matter?

Hasdeo-Arand is widely described as “Central India’s green lungs.” It is a contiguous forested landscape straddling the Surguja, Korba, and Surajpur districts of Chhattisgarh. Its ecological significance rests on several pillars:

• Flora: Approximately 640 plant species have been documented, making it one of the most botanically rich zones in peninsular India.
• Fauna: The forest is home to nine Schedule-I wildlife species — the highest category of protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 — along with a resident elephant population estimated at 40 to 50 individuals, representing a significant corridor for elephant movement.
• Hydrology: Hasdeo-Arand is the catchment area of the Hasdeo river, a tributary that eventually joins the Mahanadi. Forests in catchment areas directly regulate water table stability, flood modulation, and downstream agricultural productivity.

The EC for the Kente Extension block permits the diversion of approximately 1,742.6 hectares of forest land. Roughly 4.48 lakh trees are to be felled in phases: approximately 98,000 trees in the first five-year phase, with an additional 60,000-plus trees in the next tranche covering years six to ten. These are not secondary scrub trees; a substantial portion is mature sal and mixed tropical forest that took decades to reach ecological maturity.

The Legal and Regulatory Framework: An Explainer

1. The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980

The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (FCA) is the primary statute governing the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes. Section 2 of the Act mandates that no State Government or other authority shall order the dereservation of reserved forests, use forest land for non-forest purposes, or assign forest land to any private entity without prior approval from the Central Government. The Kente Extension block required — and has obtained — the two-stage clearance process under the FCA: an in-principle Stage-I clearance (which stipulates conditions) followed by a final Stage-II clearance (which grants formal approval for diversion). The FCA was significantly amended in 2023 through the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, which is a source of ongoing controversy for allegedly narrowing the definition of “forest” to exclude unrecorded forest land.

2. The EIA Notification, 2006

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 regulates the grant of environmental clearances. All coal mining projects above a specified threshold require EC from MoEFCC. The process involves: (a) screening and scoping by the EAC; (b) preparation of a detailed Environment Impact Assessment report; (c) a public hearing conducted by the State Pollution Control Board; and (d) appraisal by the EAC followed by a decision by MoEFCC. The Kente Extension project went through this pathway, with the EAC recommending the EC that was formally granted on 24 June 2026. The quality, scope, and independence of the EIA process is frequently questioned by ecologists and civil society actors in large forest-based projects.

3. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

The WPA, 1972 creates a tiered system of protection for wildlife and their habitats. Schedule-I species enjoy the highest protection and cannot be hunted under any circumstance. Where a proposed project overlaps with the habitat of Schedule-I species — as is the case with elephants and other fauna in Hasdeo-Arand — the project proponent must address the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau’s and Chief Wildlife Warden’s inputs during the clearance process. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), a statutory body, must approve projects that fall within eco-sensitive zones around Protected Areas or wildlife corridors. The presence of 40-50 elephants in this landscape makes corridor fragmentation a critical concern that figures in any legally compliant appraisal.

4. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 and Gram Sabha Consent

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 — commonly called the Forest Rights Act (FRA) — recognises the rights of forest-dwelling communities over forest land they have traditionally occupied and cultivated. Critically, Section 4(5) of the FRA mandates that no forest land shall be diverted for any purpose without the free, prior, and informed consent of the gram sabha (village assembly). Local communities in the Hasdeo-Arand region — many of whom are Adivasi — have organised sustained protests and have adopted gram sabha resolutions opposing the project. The legal question of whether gram sabha consent was duly obtained and respected, and whether the consent process was procedurally valid, is a live and contested issue.

5. T N Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India (1996 onwards)

The landmark T N Godavarman case before the Supreme Court of India fundamentally expanded the legal meaning of “forest.” The Court held that the word “forest” in the FCA, 1980 must be understood in its dictionary sense and not limited to officially notified or recorded forests. Any land that bears the dictionary characteristics of a forest — dense tree cover, undergrowth, ecological connectivity — attracts the protections of the FCA. This ruling was a major doctrinal shift because it brought millions of hectares of unclassified or deemed forest land under the protective umbrella of the Act. The expanded Godavarman definition is directly relevant to Hasdeo-Arand, parts of which have been historically contested as to their classification.

6. The Precautionary Principle and the Public Trust Doctrine

Indian environmental jurisprudence — particularly through a line of Supreme Court decisions including Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India (1996) — has incorporated the Precautionary Principle into domestic law. This principle holds that where there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, the absence of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation. The burden of proof shifts to the developer to demonstrate that the proposed action will not cause undue harm.

The Public Trust Doctrine, articulated most clearly in M C Mehta v. Kamal Nath (1997), holds that the State is not the absolute owner of natural resources such as forests, rivers, and the atmosphere. Rather, it holds these resources in trust for the benefit of all present and future citizens. The doctrine imposes a fiduciary duty on the government: it cannot transfer these resources to private parties in a manner that undermines public benefit. Critics of the Kente Extension clearance invoke both doctrines to argue that a biodiversity-rich catchment forest cannot be sacrificed for private commercial benefit without robust, evidence-backed justification.

CLAT Concepts at a Glance

• Statute interpretation: How “forest” is interpreted under FCA (Godavarman expansion vs. 2023 amendment narrowing).
• Procedural law: The two-stage clearance process under FCA and the EIA Notification pathway.
• Rights jurisprudence: FRA gram sabha consent as a substantive right, not a procedural formality.
• Constitutional dimensions: Article 21 (right to life) has been read to include the right to a clean environment (Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar, 1991).
• International law influence: The Precautionary Principle entered Indian law from Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration, 1992.

Conclusion

The Kente Extension environmental clearance crystallises a recurring tension in Indian environmental governance: the developmental imperative of energy security on one side, and the ecological and rights-based imperative of forest conservation on the other. The legal architecture — FCA, WPA, FRA, EIA Notification, and doctrines of precaution and public trust — exists precisely to mediate this tension through procedurally rigorous, scientifically grounded, and rights-respecting decision-making. For a CLAT aspirant, this story is not merely a current-affairs headline. It is a live laboratory for understanding how statutes interact, how constitutional rights expand through judicial interpretation, and how communities and courts continue to negotiate the meaning of “forest” in a rapidly industrialising nation.

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