Rahul Gandhi asks Chhattisgarh CM to file review petition against SC order on eviction of tribals from forestlands

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday told Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel to file a review petition against a Supreme Court order asking states to ensure eviction of tribals and forest dwellers whose claims for the forestland have been rejected.

“The recent order of the honourable Supreme Court of India in Wildlife Trust of India & Others versus Union of India & Others deserves your urgent intervention. The court has directed state governments to evict tribals and other forest dwellers whose claims under the Forest Rights Act were rejected,” Rahul said in his letter dated 23 February.

The Congress president said “in order to preempt large-scale evictions”, it would be “expedient to file a review petition” and “take any other action” deemed fit by Baghel.

“The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in its status report on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act highlighted that less than 45 percent of the Individual Forest Rights and 50 percent of the Community Forest Rights claims were approved as on April in 2018,” he said. “Further, the MoTA has pointed out that forest staff often raised ‘frivolous’ objections leading to rejection.”

He said in this backdrop eviction based on rejected claims alone, without a proper review and appeal process, violates the due process of law.

“For millions of Adivasis and other forest dwellers ‘Jal, Jangal and Zameen’ is integral to their Right to Life guaranteed by our Constitution. It is time for us to work towards deepening the promise of India for everyone,” the Congress chief said.

The apex court, in its February 13 order, asked the chief secretaries of the states concerned to file affidavits stating whether those against whom the rejection orders were passed have been evicted or not, and if not, the reasons for the same.

On 21 February, the Supreme Court asked 21 states to apprise it about the action taken by them over the eviction of tribals and forest dwellers whose claim for the forest land have been rejected.

The states that have come under the scanner of the top court are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Manipur.