The apex court on Thursday (July 5) ruled that forest rest houses or inspection bungalows can’t be handed over to private companies or commercial agencies in the name of public private partnership (PPP) for boosting of any kind of tourism.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also approved the guidelines outlined by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for control and maintenance of forest rest houses or inspection bungalows located inside the forests.

The bench order came on the plea which had raised concern over the management of forest rest houses or inspection bungalows saying that they were being misappropriated.

—India Legal Bureau