Forest dwellers' land rights: Review rejected claims, file affidavit by July 10, Centre tells states

The Centre has asked states to review the cases of tribals and forest dwellers whose claims for land rights have been rejected, and file their affidavits in the Supreme Court by July 10.

The Tribal Affairs Ministry gave the directions on Wednesday during a meeting of officers of 20 states dealing with issues related to the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

The law provides for giving land rights to those living on forest land for at least three generations before December 31, 2005.

At the meeting, discussions were held on how to effectively carry out the February 28 directions of the Supreme Court asking the states to file affidavits detailing the process adopted in rejecting the claims.

"It has been conveyed that the states should formulate a time-bound action plan to take up a suo motu review of all rejection cases involving claims of individual rights and these are brought before the District Level Committee (DLC) which is the final appellate authority under the Act," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry asked the states to follow proper procedure in accordance to the Act for examination of the claim applications at all levels -- gram sabha, sub-divisional level committee (SDLC) and district level committee (DLC).

It directed the states to carry out an accurate assessment of the finally rejected cases at the district-level committee after taking into account the possibility of duplicate applications.

"Cases rejected on wrongful grounds as detected by SDLC/DLC should be excluded from the list of rejected cases. There is a need to doubly ensure that no eligible person is rejected," the ministry said.

"In each case, the decision taken should be conveyed to the claimant in writing. State governments should complete the review processes and file their affidavits before the Supreme Court by July 10," it said.

Last week, the Supreme Court had stayed its February 13 order directing 21 states to evict 11.8 lakh illegal forest dwellers whose claims over forest land have been rejected by the authorities.

A bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, Naveen Sinha and M R Shah directed the state governments to file affidavits giving details about process adopted in rejecting the claims.