Transparency in Critical Wildlife Habitat notifications requires prior disclosure of scientific criteria and committee composition before consultation.

Before notifying Critical Wildlife Habitats, the Expert Committee must disclose the scientific data, objective criteria and its composition so consultation with forest rights holders is meaningful. Guidelines under the Forest Rights Act require an open, informed process based on scientific and objective criteria, and mere public notice of an intended notification is insufficient if it does not reveal the basis of the proposal. The committee's members and the material relied on must be made available before consultation proceeds, ensuring that affected persons can understand the decision-making basis and raise effective objections.

---

---

Issues: Whether, before notifying Critical Wildlife Habitats, the Expert Committee was required to disclose the scientific data, the objective criteria proposed to be adopted, and the composition of the Committee so that consultation with forest rights holders would be meaningful.

Analysis: The Guidelines issued to implement the Forest Rights Act, 2006 required an Expert Committee to identify Critical Wildlife Habitats on scientific and objective criteria and to follow an open process of consultation with forest rights holders in their local precincts. Consultation cannot be meaningful if the affected persons are not informed of the basis on which the proposed notification is to proceed. Public notices that merely state an intention to notify Critical Wildlife Habitats, without disclosing the scientific material or criteria, do not enable effective objections or participation. The Committee members were also required to be notified, and the material used by the Committee was to be placed before the Court.

Conclusion: The Committee was directed to publish the scientific data, the objective criteria, and the names of its members before proceeding with consultation, so that the statutory consultation process would be open and meaningful.

Final Conclusion: The order ensured transparency in the process for declaring Critical Wildlife Habitats and required prior disclosure of the decision-making basis before consultation with forest rights holders.

---