HYDERABAD: A division bench of Telangana High Court on Monday directed the State government to respond by June 22, duly furnishing reasons for issuing a memo on November 5, 2021, to regularise 11.5 lakh hectares of forest land in favour of people who were in occupation of those lands.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji, issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Deputy Chief Secretary, Environment, Forest, Science and Technology Department, Principal Secretary, Tribal Welfare Department, Commissioner of Tribal Welfare, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests as well as Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi, and Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi.
The bench also directed the State government to strictly follow the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 and its accompanying rules, especially Rule 13 of the Act.
‘Indiscriminate regularisation’
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by Forum for Good Governance (FGG) represented by its secretary M Padmanabha Reddy, seeking a stay on the memo dated November 5, 2021, issued by the Principal Secretary Tribal Welfare, through which the State government has decided to regularise 11.5 lakh hectares of forest land in favour of the persons who are in occupation of those lands.
Senior counsel Satyam Reddy, appearing for petitioner Forum for Good Governance, informed the court that the State government was proceeding with indiscriminate regularisation of forest lands, in violation of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, more specifically, Subsection 6 of Section (4) of the Act, which states that lands occupied by forest dwellers prior to December 13, 2005, should be revoked.
He also informed the court that the State government recently conducted a Cabinet meeting and decided to regularise the podu lands, notwithstanding Supreme Court directives, and sought a stay on the memo dated November 5, 2021.
The bench also granted the Interim Application submitted by advocate Chikkudu Prabhakar, seeking the inclusion of Schedule Tribe and other inhabitants represented by Kabbaaka Shravan Kumar, General Secretary, Tudumdebba Warangal District, and adjourned the hearing to June 22, 2023.