The Court of Appeal suspends the operation of Land Commissioners circular to hand over “Other State Forests” to Divisional Secretaries.

The Court of Appeal has issued an interim order suspending the operation of Circulars issued by the Land Commissioner to hand over the management of “Other State Forests” to the Divisional and District Secretaries.   This interim order will be effective until September 1. The Court of Appeal two-judge-bench comprising Justice Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Justice Dhammika Ganepola also issued notices on the respondents including Land Commissioner General returnable for September 1.   In a writ petition before the Court of Appeal, Center for Environmental justice and several others had challenged the legality of the ministerial circular No. MWFC/1/2020 dated 04.11.2020. The petitioners alleged that following these circulars the Divisional and District Secretaries have powers to grant permits for the clearing protected areas.   The petitioners state that several such incidents were reported recently; one such incident is where three district secretaries have illegally given permits for approximately 10,000 acres in the Mahaweli Floodplains National Park. The petitioners further state that these new circulars have facilitated corruption at the lower levels of the Government.   Petitioners state that improper use of Sri Lanka's Other State Forests by Divisional and District Secretaries will further reduce Sri Lanka’s total forest cover, which is already at a critical stage. Hence, such a retrograde step could have potentially catastrophic ramifications on Sri Lanka's declining forest cover. It would also severely weaken the country's commitments to inter alia, the UNREDD Programme, Kyoto protocol, and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).   Land Commissioner General, Minister of Lands, Secretary to the Ministry of Lands, Minister of Wildlife and Forest Conservation and several others were named as respondents.