In Brief
The Supreme Court considered whether the State of Himachal Pradesh could carry out limited silviculture felling in forests despite an earlier blanket ban. The Court found that controlled felling was necessary for proper forest regeneration and could be permitted experimentally. It approved silviculture operations in three specific forest types (Chil, Sal, Khair) below 1500m elevation, with strict conditions: compartments limited to 20 hectares annually, retention of mother trees, direct execution by state agencies only, detailed video monitoring, immediate re-afforestation, expert committee supervision, and biannual reporting to ensure the felling actually aided regeneration."
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