Supreme Court orders eviction of more than 10 lakh tribal families from forests across 16 states 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered the eviction of more than 10 lakh families from tribal communities and other forest dwellers from forests across 16 states, after their claims on forestlands were rejected. The case was pending for a few years.

The order was passed on February 13 by a three-judge bench comprising Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Indira Banerjee. The order was passed after a public-interest litigation (PIL) challenged the validity of the Forest Rights Act 2006 and sought review of the rights granted to forest dwellers.

The petitioners had demanded that those whose claims over traditional forestlands are rejected under the new law be evicted. The act gives traditional forest dwellers their right to access, manage and govern forests within their village boundaries.

As per the affidavits filed by the states, including Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, as many as 11,72,931 land ownership claims made by scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, under the Forest Rights Act have so far been rejected on different grounds.

The state-wise breakup of evictions to be carried out is as follows:

• Andhra Pradesh: 66,351 claims rejected.
• Assam: 22,398 scheduled tribes claims, and 5,136 other traditional forest dwellers’ claims rejected.
• Bihar: As many as 4,354 claims rejected.
• Chhattisgarh: 20,095 claims rejected; action has been taken against 4,830.
• Jharkhand: 27,809 claims of scheduled tribes and 298 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• Karnataka: 35,521 claims of scheduled tribes and 1,41,019 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• Kerala: 894 claims rejected
• Madhya Pradesh: 20,4123 claims of scheduled tribes and 1,50,664 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• Maharashtra: 13,712 claims of scheduled tribes and 8,797 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• Odisha: 1,22,250 claims of scheduled tribes and 26,620 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• Rajasthan: 36,492 claims of scheduled tribes and 577 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• Tamil Nadu: 7,148 claims of scheduled tribes and 1,881 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• Telangana: 82,075 claims of scheduled tribes rejected.
• Tripura: 34,483 claims of scheduled tribes and 33,774 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• Uttar Pradesh: 20,494 claims of scheduled tribes and 38,167 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.
• West Bengal: 50,288 claims of scheduled tribes and 35,856 claims of other traditional forest dwellers rejected.

The order also said, “In case the eviction is not carried out, as aforesaid, the matter would be viewed seriously by this court,” and added that the eviction of rejected claims or encroachers “has to be ensured before July 24” and its non-compliance of will be “viewed seriously”.

In the election season, the order can create a political storm. Earlier this month, the Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, had alleged that the BJP was acting as a “silent spectator” while the act was being challenged in the court.

Meanwhile, the Campaign for Survival and Dignity, an umbrella organization of several tribal groups and forest dwellers, has alleged that the Centre’s lawyer was absent on the day of the hearing.

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