Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
(3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 25th day of October, 1980.
In plain English
What this section actually means
Section 1 does three quiet but important jobs. First, it gives the Act its formal name — "The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980" — which is the title every court, notification and legal pleading has to use.
Second, it sets out where the Act applies. The 1980 text printed in your PDF says "the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir." That exclusion is now historic — after the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 and the 1988 amendment, the Act extends to all of India.
Third, it back-dates the commencement to 25 October 1980. That date matters: any forest-land diversion or de-reservation that happened on or after 25 October 1980 needed Central Government approval, even though the Act was actually passed by Parliament later that year. Parliament chose that date because the Forest (Conservation) Ordinance, 1980 — which the Act replaced — itself came into force on 25 October 1980 (see Section 5).
Real life
What this looks like in real life
A State signs off a diversion two weeks before the Act is published
Setup. On 10 November 1980, a State Forest Department issues an order allowing a portion of a reserved forest to be used for a mining lease. The Act was published in the Gazette only on 27 December 1980.
What the law does. The diversion is not safe. Section 1(3) says the Act 'shall be deemed to have come into force on the 25th day of October, 1980'. The November order falls inside the deemed period, so the State needed prior Central Government approval under Section 2. The order is open to challenge as void.
Frequently asked
Questions about Section 1
Open this section in the source PDF
Forest Conservation Act, 1980.pdf
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