SC & Centre wrangle over forest committee
the dogfight over forest management in the country has intensified. On the one hand the Supreme Court and the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) continue to differ over the constitution of the Forest Advisory Committee (fac); on the other, the present government has made dodgy manouevres over the Forest Dwellers' (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2005, which tribal activists and the Left have not taken to kindly (see box: Left out).
On December 13, 2006, the Supreme Court rapped moef hard for disobeying its order on the constitution of a high-level advisory board on forest matters.The committee in contention