SC asks lawyer to intervene in pending case relating to eviction of forest dwellers

A lawyer Monday filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking to intervene as a party in a pending case and sought a direction to authorities not to evict any forest dweller in the country.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra refused to entertain a separate PIL of lawyer M L Sharma on the issue of eviction of illegal forest dwellers and asked him to rather file an application seeking to intervene in a pending case.

The apex court had on March 25 referred Sharma's plea before Justice Mishra's bench adding that in any case, the February 13 order, directing 21 states to evict 11.8 lakh illegal forest dwellers, has already been stayed by the court.

Sharma, appearing for Chhattisgarh-based Tarika Tarangini Larka, had submitted that the issues raised in the PIL were of larger interest for forest dwellers and hence, the notice be issued.

The apex court had on March 5 taken cognisance of another plea filed by Larka, seeking a direction to the Centre not to allot possession of any forest land belonging to tribals to anyone other than 'adivasi' residing in that particular area.

The top court, while dealing with other similar pending petition, had on February 28 stayed its February 13 order directing 21 states to evict 11.8 lakh illegal forest dwellers whose claims over the forest land have been rejected by authorities.

The petition has alleged that authorities in Tamnar of Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district have "forcibly" grabbed a large area of tribal land and handed it to outsiders and now are trying to oust 'adivasi' from the area.

"For this, they adopted simple strategy declaring forest dweller as non-adivasi to grab their land in the forest and village by rejecting their claim upon land," the plea has said.

It has sought restoration of land acquired by the government from tribals in Chhattisgarh for mining and other purposes and to provide them value of mined minerals.

The petition has also sought setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) comprising retired judges of the apex court to look into the alleged illegal acquisition of land belonging to tribals throughout the country.

Besides, it has sought a direction to the CBI to register an FIR under the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act to investigate the matters brought to light by the SIT and to file their report before the apex court.