FCA INFORMATION WIZARD

:: PROCEDURE FOR DIVERSION OF FOREST AREAS ::

In-Principle Approval(Stage - I)
1. User agency submits an application to the State Government through Web portal of Central Government.(Parivesh)
  1. User Agency (UA) Registration & filling of specific Forms
    • CAF (Common Application Fields) form + Form A (Part I) for Diversion of Fresh Forest Area
    • CAF + Form B (Part I) for Renewal of lease of Forest land already granted clearance under FCA 1980
    • CAF + Form C (Part I) for Prospecting of Minerals in Forest land
    • CAF + Form D (Part I) for signing of lease agreement under section 2(iii) of FCA 1980
    • CAF+ Form-E (RoW) for seeking approval under Re-Diversion i) Land Use Change ii) Laying of OFC/ UG drinking water pipeline/ slurry pipeline/ electric cable/ CNG/PNG within RoW
    • CAF + Form F for Transfer of lease / Change in the user agency name
  2. Proposal Identity Number generated (used for future references)
  3. Application Forms Download
2. Proposal copy forwarded to concerned Divisional Forest Officers, District Collectors, Conservator of Forests, and Chief Conservator of Forests and the Nodal Officer of the State Government.
  1. Preliminary examination of the completeness of Document
3. Area of Proposed land 5 Ha and less
  • Division Forest Officer shall examine the Proposals.
  • Preliminary examination of the completeness of Document.
  • If the DFO finds that proposal is incomplete or incorrect it is returned to the user agency for re-submitting with complete information.
  • If the DFO finds that proposal is complete or correct then field inspection by DFO.
  • DFO Forwards application to Nodal Officer with recommendation in Part-II
  • Nodal officer will forward to State Government with his recommendations in Part-III
4. Area of Proposed land more than 5 Ha
  1. Project Screening Committee (PSC) shall examine the proposal.
  2. Preliminary examination of the completeness of Document.
  3. Checks if proposed activity is falling in restricted area or category.
  4. If PSC finds that Proposal is incomplete or incorrect
    • Member secretary informs the UA
    • Proposals must be resubmitted by UA within 90 days after addressing deficiencies, or they will be de-listed.
    • If the UA submits the information within the specified time (90 days), the Project Screening Committee will re-examine the proposal.
    • If the proposal still remains incomplete, it will be de-listed with written reasons provided.
    • After de-listing of the proposal by the PSC, the user agency can re-list the proposal only once using the same proposal identity number.
    • If proposal is still found incomplete, it will be rejected and deleted permanently from the portal.
    • If the UA does not submit the information within the specified time (90 days) but convinces the PSC that the reasons for delay were beyond control PSC may reconsider the proposal.
  6. If PSC-I finds that Proposal is complete and correct
    • Proposal is forwarded to concerned Divisional Forest Officer, District Collectors, Conservator of Forests or Chief Conservator of Forests for field verification.
    • Forest land > 40 Ha field inspection by CF concerned
    • Forest land > 100 Ha field inspection by Nodal Officer
    • Where the forest land included in the proposal is not under the management control of the Forest Department, the District Collector shall get the land schedule and map of the forest land included in the proposal authenticated online through joint verification by officers of the Revenue Department and Forest Department.
  7. PSC forwards the proposal to concerned District Forest Officer/ Conservator of Forests with its recommendations.
  8. DFO with his recommendations in part-II forwards it to Nodal Officer (FCA) through the concerned Conservator of Forests.
  9. The proposal thus received from the District Forest Officer/ Conservator of Forests will be placed in the PSC-II for examination and for further recommendations of the same to the Govt. with the approval of the Prl. Chief Conservator of Forests.
  10. After the acceptance of the proposal by the PSC-II, the Nodal officer (FCA) with due approval of the PCCF forwards the proposal to State Government for onward submission to the Regional Office, MoEF&CC, Chennai (or) GoI, MoEF&CC, New Delhi as the case may be.
  11. Proposal with State Government
    • May reject then same under intimation to the UA by the Nodal Officer. (Stage –I processing stops)
    • May agree ‘In-Principle’ then forwards its recommendation to central government (Stage –I processing starts)
5. In Principle Approval (Stage I Process)
  1. Proposals of Linear Projects; Hydro electric Projects upto 25MW, Forest land with canopy density upto 0.7
    • less than 5 ha of forest land – Site inspection by Regional office followed by in principle approval or rejection
    • Proposals above 5 ha to 40 ha – Site inspection by Regional office and forwarded to Regional empowered committee for in principle approval or rejection.
  2. Proposals of De reservation of Forest; Mining activities; Hydro electric projects over 25MW; Regularization of encroachments ; Ex- Post facto approvals for rule violations; No Petroleum exploration license needed if the forest land is not disturbed
    • Site inspection by regional office forwarded to Advisory Committee
    • Advisory committee forwards to central government with its recommendations
    • Central government may give in-principle approval or reject.
    • If Proposal is incomplete or incorrect Central government informs the state and UA to re-submit in specific period
  3. Conditional Working Permission for linear proposals by State before Final Approval
    • All compensatory payments must be done for Afforestation, NPV & any necessary mitigation plans
    • Land obtained under Compensatory Afforestation must be notified as per available acts.
    • Before handing over the land for carrying out working permission User Agency should submit the RoFR Act certificate obtained from the concerned District Collector in the format prescribed by the GoI.
Final Approval(Stage - II)
  1. Nodal Officer communicates the in –principle approval from central government to CFs, DFOs & DCs
  2. Demand note is prepared by DFO with details of compensatory levies along with list of documents.
  3. UA must pay compensatory levies along with compliance report with list of documents, certificates and evidence of land for compensatory Afforestation.
  4. DFO reviews the compliance report of UA for completeness and forwards to Nodal Officer
  5. Nodal Officers obtains the approval of PCCF and forwards to State government with recommendations.
  6. Central government reviews the compliance report received from State Govt. and gives the Final Approval.
Final diversion order by the State(Stage - III)
  1. After Final Approval and ensuring all legal requirements State Government will issue orders for land diversion or de reservation
  2. The final order of de reservation will be published in the official Gazette by the State Government
  3. After the final approval and Gazette notification, the forest land may be handed over or assigned to the user agency by the State Government
Time lines for different stages of processing
  1. Under Development

:: WILD LIFE CLEARANCE FOR DIVERSION PROPOSALS IN AND AROUND THE PROTECTED AREAS ::

1. Proposal related to Investigation & Survey with no physical disturbance
  • Registration/login by UA (User Agency) /PP(Project Proponent)
  • UA fills application form 1 (CAF+ Part I). No need to fill part II
  • Wild Life Warden (WW) scrutinizes the proposal.
  • If Proposal found incorrect or incomplete WW raises EDS (Essential detail Sought) and UA will submit the reply
  • If Proposal is found correct & complete WW fills Site Inspection Report (SIR) , Part III and provides recommendations.
  • Chief Wild Life Warden (CWW) scrutinizes the proposal.
  • If Proposal found incorrect or incomplete CWW raises query and WW will reply.
  • If Proposal is found correct & complete CWW fills SIR (optional), Part IV and provides recommendations
  • Chief Wild Life Warden issues Permit / Rejection Letter
2. Proposal related to
i. Drinking Water Supply, Optical fibre Cable (Below ground falling under the right of Way),
ii. Power transmission line/ Telecommunication line (Below Ground, upto 11KV, falling under right of way).
  • UA fills application form 1 (CAF+ Part I & II)
  • If Proposal found incorrect or incomplete WW raises EDS (Essential detail Sought) and UA will submit the reply
  • If Proposal is found correct & complete WW fills Site Inspection Report (SIR) , Part III and provides recommendations.
  • Chief Wild Life Warden (CWW) scrutinizes the proposal.
  • If Proposal found incorrect or incomplete CWW raises query and WW will reply.
  • If Proposal is found correct & complete CWW fills SIR (optional), Part IV and provides recommendations
  • CWW generates Factsheet & publishes Agenda on Parivesh
  • State Board of Wild life (SBWL) conducts meeting in Virtual/Physical mode.
  • CWW generates minutes of the meeting (MoM)conducted by SBWL
  • SBWL MoM is approved by State Secretary (SS)- (Approval of Chairperson is taken offline & attached)
  • CWW publishes MoM on Parivesh
  • State Secretary scrutinizes proposal
  • If SS finds the proposal incorrect or incomplete query is raised which is replied by CWW
  • If SS finds the proposal correct & complete , fills Part V and provides recommendations.
  • CWW will issue Permit Letter/ Rejection Letter based on recommendation from SS after issuance of approval of stage-I by SS
  • The CWW will issue instructions to District Forest officer concerned along with the MoM to issue demand notice for payment of mitigation measures approved and submit compliance.
3. All other Proposals
  • UA fills application form 1 (CAF+ Part I & II)
  • If Proposal found incorrect or incomplete WW raises EDS (Essential detail Sought) and UA will reply
  • If Proposal is found correct & complete WW fills Site Inspection Report (SIR) , Part III and provides recommendations.
  • Chief Wild Life Warden (CWW) scrutinizes the proposal.
  • If Proposal found incorrect or incomplete CWW raises query and WW will reply.
  • If Proposal is found correct & complete CWW fills SIR (optional), Part IV and provides recommendations
  • CWW generates Factsheet & publishes Agenda on Parivesh
  • State Board of Wild life (SBWL) conducts meeting in Virtual/Physical mode.
  • CWW generates minutes of the meeting (MoM) conducted by SBWL
  • MoM of SBWL is approved by State Secretary (SS)- (Approval of Chairperson is taken offline & attached)
  • CWW publishes MoM on Parivesh
  • State Secretary scrutinizes the proposal
  • If SS finds the proposal incorrect or incomplete query is raised which is replied by CWW
  • If SS finds the proposal correct & complete, fills Part V and provides recommendations.
  • Deputy Director (DD) scrutinizes the proposal
  • If Proposal found incorrect or incomplete DD raises query and SS will reply.
  • If Proposal is found correct & complete DD generated Factsheet (approved in e-office) & Agenda
  • Agenda is approved by Additional Director General of Forests – Wild life (ADGF-WL)/Hon’ble Minister
  • DD receives , publishes the agenda & generates Minutes of the Meeting (MoM)
  • MoM are approved by Hon’ble minister
  • DD receives , publishes MoM & issues recommendation letter
  • Inspector General of Forests- Wild life (IGF-WL) approves the recommendation letter
  • DD e-signs and publishes the recommendation letter
  • SS receives the recommendation letter
  • SS provides the remarks and uploads the NBWL recommendation letter & state recommendation
  • CWW receives the recommendation letter from SS/IRO & issues permit letter after issuance of approval of stage-I by SS.
  • The CWW will issue instructions to District Forest officer concerned along with the MoM to issue demand notice for payment of mitigation measures approved and submit compliance.

:: EXPANSION OF ACRONYMNS ::

  • ADGF-WL – Additional Director General of Forests- Wild life
  • CAF - Common application Fields form
  • CCF- Chief Conservator of Forests
  • CF- Conservator of Forests
  • CWW- Chief Wild life warden
  • DC- District Collector
  • DFO- District Forest Officer
  • EDS- Essential Detail sought
  • IGF-WL – Inspector General of Forests - Wild life
  • IRO - Integrated regional Office
  • MoM – Minutes of meeting
  • MS – Member Secretary
  • NBWL – National Board of wild life
  • OFC – Optical Fibre Cable
  • PCCF- Principal Chief Conservator of Forests
  • PP – Project Proponent
  • PSC – Project Screening Committee
  • RoFR – Recognition of Forest Rights
  • RoW – Right of Way
  • SBWL - State Board of Wild life
  • SIR – Site Inspection Report
  • SS - State Secretary
  • UA - User Agency
  • UG - Under Ground
  • WW- Wild life warden (District Forest Officer in Telangana state)