An Act to provide for the conservation of forests and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto. Be it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-first Year of the Republic of India as follows:- 1. 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. 2. Restriction on the dereservation of forests or use of forest land for non-forest purpose. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force in a State, no State Government or other authority shall make, except with the prior approval of the Central Government, any order directing- (i) that any reserved forest (within the meaning of the expression "reserved forest" in any law for the time being in force in that State) or any portion thereof, shall cease to be reserved; (ii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose; (iii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or any other organization not owned, managed or controlled by Government; (iv) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for reforestation. 

Forest (Conservation) Rules, 1981