HC restrains Forest Dept from evicting Kalvarayan hill tribes

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Forest Department not to evict Scheduled Tribes living in Moolakadu Village at Kalvarayan Hills, Villupuram district, citing that they should be given more opportunities to establish their rights for possessing lands in the villages which were converted to Reserved Forest (RF) through a GO in 2016.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh passed the order on a batch of writ petitions by the tribals challenging the impugned GO declaring 10,762 hectares as RF. The petitioners claimed that they have been living there for generations altogether and the land was converted to RF without a notice being sent to them.

“We have records for those lands. Though we made a representation to the District Forest Officer (DFO) Villupuram to release our lands from their possession, the Forest authorities attempted to evict us. It is against the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006,” the petitioners submitted through their counsel VR Kamalanathan. The DFO, Villupuram, submitted through the Additional Advocate General R Ramanlaal that the petitioners approached him merely on the grounds of apprehension. “The procedure under the Tamil Nadu Forest Act, 1882 is being followed,” the AAG noted.

The judge noted that if the claims of the petitioners are rejected by the Sub Divisional Level Committee, they are open to filing a petition before the District Level Committee under Section 6 (4) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The court also held that there is no ground to interfere with the impugned GO of 2016. “Even when the same is taken up for consideration by the District Level Committee, sufficient opportunity shall be provided to the petitioners. Till a final decision is taken, the petitioners shall not be illegally evicted,” the HC ruled.