Deemed Forests

● The concept of deemed forests has not been clearly defined in any law including the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.

● However, the Supreme Court in the case ofT N Godavarman Thirumulpad(1996) had broadened the definition of forest to include not just land classified as forest under forest or revenue departments but also those that are forests according to the definition of a forest.

● It had also asked states to form committees to identify forests, irrespective of the nature of land ownership or whether they are notified, recognised or classified in a time-bound manner.

● Deemed forests comprises only about 1% of India's forest land.