Ministry of tribal affairs calls meeting of states to seek details of forest dwellers who face eviction

NEW DELHI: With the Supreme Court staying its Feburary 13 order on eviction of tribals and non-tribals whose claims to land ownership under Forest Rights Act have been rejected, the ministry of tribal affairs has decided to hold a meeting with state governments on March 6 to ensure implementation of the directions.

At the meeting, the ministry will seek details of the process being followed by them in respect of claims filed, rejected, as well as the exact details of the rejection cases.

The matter pertaining to eviction of scheduled tribes (STs) and other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs) whose claims for forest land rights have been rejected under FRA 2006, had come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The order dated 13 February was stayed. However, the order relating to the satellite survey to be carried out by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to place on record the encroachment position was retained.

The court has directed that the state governments file affidavits by July 10, giving information regarding constitution of office review committees, details regarding the procedure followed on the claim applications under the Act as well as the appeals filed against the rejection cases. The court also sought information to be filed as to the procedure which is to be followed after finally arriving at the rejection cases in each of the states.

The Centre, pleaded before SC on Thursday to withhold its February 13 order which would have led to eviction of 11.8 lakh tribals and other traditional forest dwellers. The Centre asserted that claims of the forest dwellers were rejected in a summary manner and the affected illiterate persons had no wherewithal to defend their rights.

Though the court agreed to examine the issue in detail, it said this order could not be used by unauthorised persons to grab forest land for commercial or other exploitation in the guise of tribes or other forest dwellers.