- BY tictac
- POSTED IN Jungle News
- WITH 0 COMMENTS
- PERMALINK
- STANDARD POST TYPE
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has asked 16 states to implement their own orders rejecting 11.8 lakh claims over forest land by Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs) that were found baseless, and passed eviction orders to free lakhs of hectares of forest land.
It is not clear from the state affidavits whether each claim represents an individual or whether an individual could have filed more than one claim, making it difficult to estimate the number of persons or households that have been affected by the court order passed on February 13.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee asked chief secretaries of 16 states to file affidavits before July 12 explaining why orders for eviction have not been implemented till date.
The problem of encroachments on forest areas and protected sanctuaries has been a vexed one. In some cases, occupants have failed to establish ownership.
Eviction must be carried out on or before July 24, rules SC. The court also asked chief secretaries to give details of claims by STs and OTFDs that were pending adjudication with state authorities.
“In case the eviction is not carried out, as aforesaid, the matter would be viewed seriously by this court,” the bench warned. In many cases, the forest dwellers have exceeded rightful limits and encroached on forest land or conserved areas, and occupants have been found to be proxies for non-eligible owners. Also, genuine claimants among tribal and forest dwellers have struggled to establish rights of ownership.
The order came on a PIL filed by NGO ‘Wildlife First’ challenging the validity of Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, and accompanying Rules of 2008.
The Centre wants details of tribals and non-tribals who face eviction on account of rejection of claims to land patta . We know that about 19 lakh claims have been given patta. What is the exact status of the rest is what we have asked to know: Ministry of tribal affairs secretary Deepak Khandekar.
On behalf of one of the petitioners Wildlife First, Praveen Bhargav told TOI, “The Supreme Court is presently focusing only on recovery of forest land from bogus claimants whose claims stand rejected.
Forest rights groups, however, countered by saying the apex court order was a major blow to the struggle of tribals and forest dwellers for justice.
The next hearing is in July where states have to tell the status of those claims that have not been granted pattas.
