The government has also ordered the formation of a high-level committee to look into the issue
The Gujarat government in a release on Monday said that the state will be filing a review petition in connection with claims made under the Forest Rights Act that was rejected by the department. The government has also ordered the formation of a high-level committee to look into the issue.
The state government's move comes days after news emerged that Congress president Rahul Gandhi had asked chief ministers of Congress-ruled states to appeal against the SC order that gave states a deadline to evict tribes whose claim to land within forest were rejected.
The state said that the government had so far approved 84,440 applications for land claims under the Forest Rights Act. The government in a release said that it is possible that many tribals living in remote areas may not be aware of their rights and may not have applied to claim their land. The review petition will be filed only after the government studies the rejected claims.
It should be noted that the Supreme Court's order had given 16 states including Gujarat time till July 27 to evict tribals whose claims have been rejected under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). This order is likely to affect over 1 lakh tribals from across 12 districts in the state. The BJP led Centre had been criticised following the Supreme Court order after it emerged that no lawyer was present during the argument.
As per the available data of the 1,82,868 applications made by tribals claiming land under the FRA over 1 lakh applications are still pending.
Activist has said that even in cases where the land was approved, only part of the claim was approved. This they said left the tribals still vulnerable to eviction from the part of the land that had not been approved.
UNAWARE
The state said that the government had so far approved 84,440 applications for land claims under the Forest Rights Act. The government in a release said that it is possible that many tribals living in remote areas may not be aware of their rights and may not have applied to claim their land. The review petition will be filed only after the government studies the rejected claims.
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