# NGT bars further school construction on forest land in Jajpur 2026-11-09T23:41:42+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The National Green Tribunal has restrained block development officers of Danagadi and Sukinda in Jajpur district from further construction of government schools on forest-category land until statutory approvals are obtained. The eastern zone bench, comprising judicial member Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member Ishwar Singh, passed the order on 30 October on a petition by Nuadihi resident Kailash Chandra Nayak, who challenged construction of 84 schools in Danagadi and 94 in Sukinda without clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The forest department told the tribunal it had received 170 regularisation proposals, of which 107 were approved by the district-level committee on 15 October 2025. The tribunal said the regularisation process could not be bypassed and directed authorities to seek prior or ex-post facto approval. It observed the construction was 'irregular but cannot be said to be absolutely illegal', noting that Section 3(2) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 allows diversion of forest land for government schools subject to conditions. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both sources report the same NGT order identically on the facts: 178 schools, 170 regularisation proposals, 107 approved. Times of India includes the petitioner's advocate names and the tribunal's procedural observation that the irregularity is not 'absolutely illegal', while Orissa Post provides the original application number and the July 2025 notice detail. The uniform coverage is straight reporting: neither outlet frames the government as negligent or defends the construction. The balanced reading is that the tribunal itself left the door open for ex-post facto approval, and the next concrete step is the consideration of the remaining 63 proposals forwarded after site inspections. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Neutral wire-style reporting, includes advocate names - orissapost.com (neutral report) Neutral wire-style reporting, adds case number This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: Forest Conservation Act 1980, Jajpur, Kailash Chandra Nayak, National Green Tribunal Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/ngt-bars-further-school-construction-on-forest-land-in-jajpur/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/ngt-bars-further-school-construction-on-forest-land-in-jajpur/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/