New Delhi: The Centre and the Gujrat government moved to the supreme court in order to seek to stay on its order evicting people from forest lands who have failed to prove themselves as the forest dwellers under the Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers (Recognition of forest rights) Act 2006 ( Forest Rights Act).
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On 13th February the SC had directed the state governments to ensure eviction of people who failed to establish themselves as forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act and the government rejected their claim on or before 24th July.
The court has warned of viewing the case seriously on non-compliance of its eviction order.
The Supreme court directions came in response to petitions filed in 2008, by an NGO named, Wildlife First and retired forest officials who challenged the validity of the Forests Rights Act.
According to the petitioners, the act had lead to deforestation and encroachment. They also demanded that people whose claims were rejected under the new law should be evicted from the forest lands. Out of 44 lakhs, 20.5 lakh claims were rejected.
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On 26th January 2016, the court had directed not to give any rights and evict them from the forest lands along with some other action. The direction would lead to the eviction of more than a million people with maximum numbers in Madhya Pradesh.
The Chief Secretaries of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerela, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttrakhand, and Uttar Pradesh have to explain before the court the reasons for rejection of claims.
