Contrary to the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, a private registered society continues to hold a 99-year-lease for the Rajabarari Estate in Madhya Pradesh stretching over thousands of acres of lush teak forest already notified as a Protected Forest by the state government.
Inquiries have revealed that the state forest department spends budgeted money on felling trees under the “Working Plan” in this Protected Area and huge revenue generated from the forestry activity goes to the lease holder of Rajabarari Estate forest.
The Protected Area in question falls under the Harda Forest Division and is situated on the northern slopes of Satpura hill ranges. The Geological strata of this forest area falls under the Deccan Trap and yields loamy soil, which is extremely suitable for growth of teak forests. Under the working Plan of the State forest department, 1784 hectares of this area has been classified as pure teak forest.
This Protected Area covers the entire 3,232.631 ha. (7,988 acres) of Rajabarari Estate forest that was part of the erstwhile princely state of Makdai. The state government had issued a notification on November 7, 1997 declaring the entire area of Rajabarari Estate as protected forests. With the abolition of Jamindari and Malgujari (Madhya Pradesh Abolition of Jamindari, Malgujari and Alienation Act, 1951), forests owned by erstwhile princely states were covered under blanket notifications and transferred to the state revenue department before being transferred to the forest department for demarcation and for being notified as reserved forest (RF) and protected forest (PF).
Under Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, no state government could assign any forest land or any portion of it by way of lease to any private person, agency or any organisation not owned, managed or controlled by the government. In gross violation of this provision, the status of the lease for Rajabarari Estate was not only allowed to be maintained but the original lease holder Dayalbag’s Radhaswami Satsang Sabha was permitted to transfer the lease to another society Radhaswami Training Employment and Adivasi Uplift Institute, Timarni. This was done after the Forest Conservation Act had come in force in 1980.
On November 23, 1983, when Mr Arjun Singh was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the original lease holder was allowed to transfer the lease deed to Radhaswami Training Employment and Adivasi Uplift Institute, Timarni, a society registered under the MP Society Registration Act, 1973. The Rajabarari Estate was owned and managed by one Mr Murray till his death in 1918. After him, his widow was the owner of this property. She later sold it to Maharaj Sri Anand Swaroop, who gifted the Rajabarari Estate to Dayalbag’s Radhaswami Satsang Sabha in 1924.