New Delhi, July 20 (PTI) Claiming that management of forestry was
purely an administrative matter that required
deep technical expertise, the Centre has urged the Supreme
Court to wind up its "green bench" which is hearing a batch of
petitions on the alleged exploitation of forests.

In an affidavit moved before the bench headed by Chief
Justice K G Balakrishnan, the Secretary, Ministry of
Environment and Science, urged the apex court to "review" its
decision to constitute the Central Empowered Committee (CEC)
for monitoring the managements of forests.

Following a spate of petitions and applications since
1996, the apex court had earlier constituted a special bench
popularly known as "green bench" to closely monitor the
management of forests by the Government to prevent the rapid
deforestation and its concomittant effect on the ecology.

In fact, during one of the earlier arguments on the
issue, the Additional Solicitor General Vikas Singh, created a
stir when he bluntly told a bench headed by the then Chief
Justice Y K Sabbharawal that the apex court had no authority
to intefere in the management of forests or direct setting up
of committees since the subject was purely in the executive
domain.

The Centre's latest affidavit is more or less a
reaffirmation of the ASG's arguments.

In its application, the Centre has submitted that it
was closely regulating the forest management as it involved
not only the precious ecology but also the livelihood of

millions of people, most of whom are poor are inextricably
linked to forests.

"The growing naxalism in vast forest tracts of major
Indian States is often directed against the disenfranchisement
of forest-dependent population because of overtly centralizing
episodes in the forestry administration," the Centre said.

According to the affidavit, forest management should
be better left to the experts and not to individuals or the
layman who has no knowledge of the subject.

"Forest management is a highly technical and
specialized discipline, and that is why it is required that
the forests are worked regularly by experts, not per the
opinions and views of lay persons," the affidavit said
referring to the various petitions filed by NGOs and
individuals complaining of deforestation in the country.

The affidavit said that each single intervention in
the managements of forests has to be timed and designed to
suit the local conditions. This could be taken care of by the
local forest authorities in terms of daily executive functions
within a broad framework decided by higher levels in the
government.