Cases Under Forest Rights Act As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA in short) the responsibility for implementation of the Act lies with the State/UT Governments. As per the information received from the State/UT Governments, a total number of 39,61,194 claims (38,64,161 individual and 97,033 community claims) have been filed under the FRA till 28th February, 2015, out of which 32,91,504 claims (83.09%) have been disposed of. Out of the total 32,91,504 claims disposed of, 15,62,453 titles have been distributed and the remaining 17,29,051 claims were rejected, which comes to around 52% of the total claims disposed of. The percentage of rejection of claims is around 52%. There is no restriction in filing claims for an FRA title whereas the titles are recognized and vested only when the claimant fulfils the eligibility criteria as stipulated under the FRA and Rules made there under. The claims are rejected due to various reasons, such as, non-availability of documentary evidence with the claimants; non-possession of the land claimed; possession after 13th December 2005; claims on land recorded as revenue land; inability to prove 75 years of residence in that area in case of the Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) and lack of wide spread awareness campaign and capacity building programmes on FRA implementation etc. Also, duplicate claims lead to the inflated numbers of claims received and the number of rejections. This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. Samir/jk
