In the second part of an exclusive conversation with CJP Secretary Teesta Setalvad, the deputy general secretary of All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) Roma Malik highlights the complex and tedious process of filing claims under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. Under the Act, communities can claim Community Forest Rights and Individual Forest Rights.
In the first part of the conversation, Roma spoke about the illegality of the Supreme Court order of February that had initially ordered the eviction of over a million forest dwellers. The order was stayed later and states were asked to submit documents around the process that was followed to reject the claims of the communities. The first part of the detailed conversation can be read/ watched here.
In the beginning of August, the SC directed states that did not file compliance affidavits on the matter of implementation of the FRA, 2006, to do so within a fortnight. Wildlife First v/s Union of India- a batch of petitions filed in 2008 challenging the constitutional validity of the FRA came up for hearing on August 6. The next hearing has been scheduled for September 12, 2019.
As many as 15 different petitions were filed by various sections of intellectuals, academics, activists, forest dwellers and Adivasi organisations challenging the Wildlife First petition which is not only anti forest dwellers but also a threat to the sustenance of forests. Interveners were also permitted to address the court and file written arguments on crucial issues that require deliberation. Detailed arguments are likely to resume in the month of September. Adivasi women leaders, Sokalo Gond and Nivada Rana backed by the All India Union of Forest Working Peoples (AIUFWP) and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) have also intervened.
Earlier, in February 2019, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra ordered the eviction of Adivasis and other forest dwelling communities from forest regions, whose claims for entitlement were rejected by the Forest Department. This put millions of Adivasis’ homes and livelihoods under threat. The judgement of the Supreme Court was criticised not only for being unconstitutional in that it violates schedules V, VI and IX of the Constitution, but also because it turns established jurisprudence on its head. After protests and stiff resistance from various quarters, the order was stayed on February 28, 2019.
Worse still, the ongoing sinister plans of the incumbent and outgoing Modi government in attempting to bring in an all-encompassing Forest law that snatches away the “recognition of rights” Forest Rights Act, 2006, has complicated matters further. News reports of this plan surfaced while electioneering was on and has not received the attention that it deserves.
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