Bhubaneswar: Around 1.2 lakh tribals living in forest areas in the state are facing the threat of being evicted from their homestead and denied of their rights on forest produce after the recent Supreme Court order pertaining to the matter.
A three judge bench of the apex court, comprising Justices Navin Sinha, Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee, has directed the state government to ensure evictions of these tribals and other forest dwellers whose rights on forests and their produce were rejected by the state government earlier.
Now, the SC order threatens to deprive 1.2 lakh tribals and around 20,000 other forest dwellers of their rights. An affidavit filed by the State of Odisha before the Supreme Court stated that 5,73,867 claims had been filed by members of the Scheduled Tribes (STs) community and 31,687 claims were filed by Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs).
Out of these, 1,22,250 claims of STs and 26,620 claims of OTFDs have been rejected. The Odisha government has, however, told the Supreme Court that the rejected claims are being reviewed. The SC has asked the Odisha government as to why the evictions have not taken place despite the claims being rejected.
The SC, in its latest order on the issue, told the Odisha government, “Let the review process be completed within four months. Let the Chief Secretary to the State of Odisha indicate, by way of an affidavit, as to why after the rejection of the claims, which have attained finality, eviction has not been made.”
Referring to the evictions, the SC bench said, “The Chief Secretary shall ensure that evictions will be carried out on or before the next date of hearing in places where the rejection orders have been passed. In case the eviction is not carried out, as aforesaid, the matter would be viewed seriously by this court.”
It is worth mentioning here that under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, commonly called the Forests Rights Act, ensured the rights of the STs and OTFDs on local forest areas. The Gram Sabhas were entrusted with the task of passing resolutions and verifying them with the state government, following which STs and OTFDs could enjoy their tradition al rights over forests.
The new SC order has created a ripple among the tribal populace as well as people fighting for their rights.
Earlier, the Tribal Welfare Ministry had written to states June 27, 2018 for arbitrarily rejecting the forest rights of STs and OTFDs without informing the Centre about the same.
On the one hand, the claims were rejected without citing proper reasons; on the other hand, legislators framed the FRA in 2006 to safeguard the rights of tribals and OTFDs. Even today, several forest rights claims are delayed, rejected or granted with added conditions in the state, especially in terms of movement of minor forest produce.
PNN
