The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Second Amendment Rules, 2025 on November 29, 2025.
This amendment modifies Rule 13 of the original 2023 rules by inserting a new clause (i) into sub-rule (4).
Key Change: Role of Nodal Officer in Compensatory Afforestation
The amendment specifies an additional responsibility for the Nodal Officer of the State Forest Department:
New Clause (i) in Rule 13(4): The Nodal Officer of the State Forest Department of the State Government or Union territory Administration shall facilitate and assist the user agency in identifying degraded forest lands for the purpose of compensatory afforestation under these rules.
This modification strengthens the mechanism for compensatory afforestation by making it an explicit duty of the Nodal Officer to actively help the user agency (the entity seeking to divert forest land) in locating suitable degraded forest patches for planting new forests.