Navi Mumbai: Raigad district collector recently struck down the order passed by a former Panvel sub divisional officer (SDO) allowing diversion of about 30 acres (12 hectares) of private forest land in Morbe village, Panvel, for non-forest purposes.The collector’s reversal order was passed in March 2026, after deputy conservator of forest-Alibaug division, Rahul Patil, filed an appeal against the SDO’s decision of diversion of private forest land in Sep 2023.The private forest land has trees, natural streams, among other resources and green heritage.The private forest land owners, including two residents of Cuffe Parade in south Mumbai, had applied and obtained exemptions under a state law. The Panvel SDO had allowed private forest land diversion without prior approval of the Union government, leading to the eventual cancellation of his order.Many had expressed concern over deforestation decisions swiftly taken amid rising concern over climate change.Advocate Rajendra Madhavi alleged, “A thorough investigation should be conducted into the forest land diversion cases across the state.”The owners of the private forest land applied for exemption under section 3 (2) of the Maharashtra Private Forests (Acquisition) Act -1975 to the SDO in Panvel. However, section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act-1980 restricts the state government authorities from diverting forest land for non-forest purposes without prior permission of the Union government.The forest division-Alibaug objected to the application, referring in its submission before the SDO, pointing to section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act-1980.However, then Panvel SDO overruled the submissions made by the Alibaug forest division and passed the order on Sep 5, 2023. The Raigad collector reversed the order on March 11, 2026 and asked the concerned officials to restore the land transaction records. An appeal time of 90 days has been granted.A Panvel forest official confirmed, “The illegal private forest land diversion was allowed by the SDO but was strongly objected to.”The deputy conservator of forest – Alibaug division, Rahul Patil, did not respond to TOI’s call and text message.Umesh K Parida
