Another kind of pugilist

When a man of honourable ancestry, with a lineage of noblemen and rulers stood up to be a spokesman for a forest that was being felled, his voice echoed across the country after the Supreme Court passed a ruling.

The result, even by his modest admission, was stunning.

Godavarman Thirumalpad was born in the royal household of Nilambur Kovilakam in Kerala’s Malappuram district.  The household was the sole owner of the thousands of hectares of forests which stretched from the Mysore border to Calicut in Kerala and spread across Gudaloor.

In 1947, the then ruler, Manavedan Raja, requested the Madras government to take over the land, saying it was impossible to look after it.  The forest was taken over in 1949.

Thus began the problem: after the formation of Kerala, this forest was divided between the state and Tamil Nadu and, over the years, a systematic, rapid and egregiously destructive felling of trees thinned the forest cover down to a fraction of what it used to be.  These forests were rich with wildlife and an astonishing diversity of deciduous and evergreen trees yet, contractors and timber smugglers  who knew the price of everything but the value of nothing tore away at the verdant ecosystem.   The guardians entrusted with the job of conservation, the Forest Department, could do little,  even as some officers participated in the plunder with their passivity and corruption.  When Mr. Thirumalpad tried to persuade the tree-fellers, he was ignored, often treated with contempt. 

The Forest Conservation Act, passed in 1980, was hardly an impediment, followed more in its breach, the felling legitimised with notional fines that were ludicrous. In an interview with Down to Earth , Thirumalpad said: “The trees were being felled in violation of various legislations and rules.  Contractors who obtained permission for felling these trees remitted only Rs. 1000 to the district collector for 50 logs of rosewood.”

Dismayed and angry at the illegal felling of public forests that had belonged to his family, Thirumulpad filed a writ petition in 1995 asking for a stay on felling of trees in that forest.   He had to fight his way through: the dissuaders were many and the enticements were rich, even as the threats followed his persistence.

In December 1996, the Supreme Court - the bench comprising Justice JS Verma and Justice BN Kirpal - passed its order: no trees, it said, would be felled in any forest in India, a landmark, sweeping, incredibly perspicuous judgement by the only Institution in India that has stood by the environment.  The court ordered all non-forest activity like sawmills and mining to be suspended.

Overnight, the entire plywood industry in the country which had grown on the back of surreptitious supply from North-East India shut down.  There was an immediate, significant drop in illegal felling in all States, the transportation of timber from forest areas to urban India came to a halt, the operation of saw mills across the country that had relied on the nexus between forest contractors and the Forest Service ceased at once. (With revised rules, the wood business resumed later, but the plunder had been halted.) 

The Supreme Court took over the status of being the law-maker, administrator and enforcer.  It kept the Godavarman case open using the device of a “continuing mandamus” and, over the years and has heard hundreds of matters related to the implementation of the Forest Conservation Act. The ruling excluded the lower courts from admitting such application, leaving the Supreme Court the sole administrator of the law when it came to forest matters.  

Those who care for India’s forests and wildlife are used to bad news; it’s there in the papers every day.  Yet, it’s important to look at another view: the even-worse case scenario of what could have happened, and then derive the strength that optimism provides. 

The result of the Supreme Court’s judgement in this case has been marvellous: thousands of hectares of forest have been saved from diversion to non-forest purposes, in consequence and over the next two decades, a number of judgements on forest conservation have been passed, a vast number quoting this landmark case as a referral point in protection.    To our generation of wildlifers and foresters, Godavarman Thirumalpad is a legend and will remain so for decades to come.

On June 1^{st 2016,} a few days before World Environment Day, he passed away at the age of 86, followed a few days later by another fighter, Muhammad Ali. 

History will judge which one of them was the greatest.

Notes:

'Continuing mandamus' : which means that the Courts, rather than passing final judgements, keeps passing orders and directions with a view to monitor the functioning of the executive.