The Hindu : Can vested forests be legally given to tribals?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Can vested forests be legally given to tribals?

By Roy Mathew

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL 27. The Government proposes to press the Centre for allocation of forest land for distribution to tribals on the basis of the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act. However, legal questions have arisen over whether provisions of the Act, on which the Government proposes to pin its arguments, are relevant in the present context.

The law enacted in 1971 has the provision that private forests taken over by the Government under the Act were to be distributed to agriculturists and agriculture workers excluding area reserved for public purposes. The rules notified in 1974 specified that 50 per cent of the allocation should be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

However, substantial areas were not assigned in the Seventies. By 1980, the Central Forest (Conservation) Act was passed, and its provisions have an overriding effect over the provisions of the State law. Moreover, Supreme Court orders in recent years have established that the vested forests should be treated as forests and should not normally be used for non-forestry purposes. The Centre has been restrained from giving clearance for diversion of forests on a routine basis.

However, recently, the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, T. R. Baalu, made a statement to the effect that if any promise of assignment of land had been made before 1980, the Centre would consider granting clearance for the same.

The State Government is arguing that Government had "promised'' assignment of land to tribals under the 1971 Act and Rules. The Minister for the Welfare of Scheduled and Backward Communities, M. A. Kuttappan, has already sent a fax to Mr. Baalu urging that over 12,000 hectares of forests be released in view of the provisions of the 1971 Act. The Government also proposes to take up the matter at the Central Forest Advisory Council meeting scheduled for April 30 in New Delhi.

However, the question arises whether a provision of an Act could be considered as a specific promise or assurance to the tribals, especially when the provisions of the Act has been superseded by a Central Act. Ironically, if the argument is accepted, it also means that the Government has promised to restore the alienated land of tribals under the Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction of Transfer of Land and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act. The Government has been declining to keep this `promise' citing that the Assembly passed a law in 1999 nullifying the provisions of the Act. (Interestingly, the Government has been arguing recently that the basis of the withdrawal of the agitations by tribals in 2001 was not an agreement but a Government decision, implying that decisions could be altered.)

Besides, the `promise' in the 1971 Act is not limited to tribals. The law specified that the vested forests should be assigned to unemployed young persons belonging to the families of agriculturists and agricultural labourers and labourers of private forests if they are willing to take up agriculture as a means of their livelihood. Would the Government try to keep this promise also?

The problem here is that the conversion of forest land into non-forest land will affect the environment of the State which has already lost large tracts of forests to plantations and encroachers. The private forests taken over by the Government came to about 2.27 lakh hectares. Of these, about 4,000 hectares has been given to tribals, cooperatives and for purposes connected to land reforms in the Seventies. Besides, about 6,878 hectares were transferred to the Revenue Department for distribution. Around 8,000 hectares were encroached upon by settlers. Besides, some land has been restored to its original owners as per court verdicts. The Government had been preventing them from cutting trees on those lands through notifications under the Kerala Preservation of Trees Act. The Government will lose the moral argument behind this measure, if it allows the vested forests to be converted into farm lands.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Situation conducive for third front: BJP

Can vested forests be legally given to tribals?

Self-financing colleges: look to China for answers

DYFI call to boycott multinationals

`Govt. keen on Kochi Skybus project'