Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], July 4 : The Chhattisgarh Forest Department has put the implementation of Community Forest Resource (CFR) management on temporary hold, given the lack of clear guidelines from the central government.
In a letter dated July 3, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) B Srinivas Rao instructed all regional and divisional forest officers to pause further action on CFR governance.
"Until the Government of Chhattisgarh receives guidance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the currently issued directions are being suspended," the letter stated.
The Forest Department has written to both the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) requesting the issuance of model CFR management plans aligned with the National Working Plan Code, 2023, along with detailed implementation guidelines and a training manual for Gram Sabha representatives and officials.
So far, Chhattisgarh has issued 4,349 CFR titles covering 23 lakh hectares, in addition to over 4.7 lakh individual forest rights, making it one of India's leading states in CFR recognition.
A senior Chhattisgarh Forest Department official told ANI, "We have not stopped issuing titles under CFR. We've only asked the field officials not to take further action regarding the management side of things because we are still awaiting letters and model guidelines from MoTA and MoEFCC."
The pause comes in the wake of communications from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) that encourage states to adopt the model CFR management framework.
However, without corresponding guidelines from MoEFCC--particularly those harmonised with the National Working Plan Code, 2023--state authorities say field-level implementation has become inconsistent and legally vulnerable.
CFR rights, recognised under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, grant forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers the legal right to access, manage, and conserve their traditional forest areas. Specifically, Sections 3(1)(c) and 3(1)(d) of the Act entitle communities to own and manage minor forest produce, access grazing areas, and safeguard seasonal resources.
The law aims to rectify historical injustices and empower forest communities with legal control over the resources they have traditionally relied on.
Earlier, the Forest Department had issued an advisory on May 15, directing that only approved CFR management plans be implemented until model guidelines are issued. However, that advisory has now been formally withdrawn following confusion over the department's role and mounting criticism from civil society groups. Chhattisgarh's Forest Minister, Kedar Kashyap, ordered the withdrawal, which has been effected through Office Letter No. 536 dated July 3.
In a detailed press statement, the department clarified that its previous instructions were purely advisory, intended to prevent procedural missteps.
"The Forest Department had only issued an advisory to its field officers in light of the absence of model Community Forest Resource (CFR) management plans and corresponding guidelines," the statement said.
It added that "field-level implementation of CFRR was becoming inconsistent due to the lack of clarity on how to develop and integrate CFR management plans with the National Working Plan Code, 2023."
Cautioning against proceeding without national alignment, the department said: "In the absence of this advisory, there was a strong possibility that ad hoc management plans would be implemented without taking cognisance of the working plan prescriptions." Such uncoordinated steps, it warned, could "jeopardise the ecological integrity of forests" and trigger inter-departmental or community-level conflicts.
The advisory had triggered opposition from some Gram Sabhas and NGOs, who viewed it as a curb on community rights. Responding to that, the department stated that the protest stemmed from a "misunderstanding," and clarified that the advisory was never meant to restrict rights, but to ensure that future CFR management is "scientifically robust, law-compliant, and nationally harmonised."