SC names ex-CJI B.R. Gavai to head Megamalai forest-rights panel

9 November 2026 · English Polity & Governance

⬇ Download this article as free PDF

Topics: Polity & Judiciary · UPSC Prelims · TNPSC · SSC · Current Affairs

Current affairs of 9 November 2026 (Shanmugam IAS Academy) – explained for UPSC, TNPSC and other competitive exams

News

On 6 November 2026, the Supreme Court set up a special committee headed by former Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai to supervise and scrutinise claims under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 in Tamil Nadu's Megamalai region (Srivilliputhur–Megamalai Tiger Reserve, Agasthyamalai landscape). A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order in 'A. John Kennedy v. State of Tamil Nadu'. An officer of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and Tamil Nadu's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests will assist the committee, which will report in a sealed cover. According to the State, 4,594 occupants hold 5,072.64 hectares of forest land, of which 3,637.83 hectares are under silk cotton. The Court said commercial crop cultivation cannot be recognised as a forest right, and that people living outside the forest but cultivating inside it, or staying only temporarily, cannot become forest dwellers through cultivation alone. The State must form the remaining Gram Sabhas within 30 days and decide claims within five months after that; the next hearing is on 1 February 2027.

Key facts for the exam

Background

• Forest Rights Act, 2006: the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the nodal ministry. It recognises rights of those who lived in and depended on forest land before 13 December 2005. Under Section 6, the Gram Sabha is the authority to initiate the process of determining rights, followed by Sub-Divisional and District Level Committees – a three-tier system. An 'Other Traditional Forest Dweller' (OTFD) must have resided in the forest for at least three generations (75 years).
• Minor forest produce: under Section 2(i), non-timber forest produce of plant origin such as bamboo, tendu leaves, honey and wax. Section 3(1)(c) gives the right to collect and use it. The Court took the prima facie view that a planted commercial crop such as silk cotton falls outside this; the CEC is to give its opinion.
• Earlier verdict: on 29 May 2026 the same bench ordered the Tamil Nadu government to remove, in a time-bound manner, encroachments in protected areas of the Agasthyamalai landscape (which spans Tamil Nadu and Keralam), and action against 118 government servants found to be encroachers. The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) was set up by the Supreme Court in 2002 in the T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad case; since 2023 it is a permanent body under an Environment Ministry notification.
• B.R. Gavai: from Amravati, Maharashtra; served as the 52nd Chief Justice of India from 14 May to 23 November 2025. He was India's first Buddhist CJI and the second from a Scheduled Caste after K.G. Balakrishnan.

Practise more: Weekly current affairs · Daily subject quiz · Knowledge nugget

Sources: Supreme Court of India judgment; Outlook; LiveLaw; Verdictum; DT Next. Compiled by Shanmugam IAS Academy.

TNPSC Achievers