Overview
- A bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran issued the order in the TN Godavarman case concerning Saranda.
- Mining is barred inside national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and within a one-kilometre buffer nationwide, extending the Goa Foundation precedent and modifying a 2022 directive.
- Jharkhand must notify 126 Saranda forest compartments as a wildlife sanctuary within three months after the Court rejected the state’s revised area figures.
- Six compartments—KP-2, KP-10, KP-11, KP-12, KP-13 and KP-14—are excluded from the notification because they are designated for mining.
- The Court said tribal and forest-dweller rights under the Forest Rights Act remain protected and directed wide publicity of these safeguards, with schools, rail lines and dispensaries unaffected.