The forest rights act was delivered a near-death blow in the supreme court on January 8, 2008. The court was hearing the Orissa government's plea for regularization of tribal settlement on forestland. But this petition was based on the 1990 Ministry of Environment and Forests' (MoEF's) notification reviewed and amended by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). This notification provides for regularization of pre-October 1980