The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has put in abeyance an August 6 directive that had triggered allegations of violations of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, after intervention from a Union Minister, members of a chief ministerial task force and civil society groups.

The directive, issued by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Work Planning and Forest Land Records) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, had asked field officers — including chief conservators of forests, territorial divisions, divisional forest officers and field directors of national parks and sanctuaries — to receive community forest resource (CFR) rights claims during meetings scheduled on August 15. Under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, the Gram Sabha, not the forest department, is the competent authority to receive such claims.

On September 30, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force Subharanjan Sen issued a brief order stating that the August 6 letter was being kept in abeyance and that “instructions regarding community forest resources will be issued by the government in the future as required.”

Story continues below.
Subscribe to see fewer ads.

The directive had prompted an intervention from Durgadas Uikey, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, who wrote to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav seeking to alter or pause the directive as it was “not in consonance with the provisions of FRA, 2006.”

In his letter to Yadav, Uikey pointed out that under the FRA, the definition of “community forest resource” includes customary community forest land within traditional or customary boundaries of a village, as well as reserved forests and protected areas — including sanctuaries and national parks — to which the community has traditional access. The August directive appeared to narrow the scope of forest areas where CFR rights could be claimed.

The minister also underlined the statutory role of the Gram Sabha. Under the FRA, the Gram Sabha initiates the process of determining forest rights, receives claims, consolidates and verifies them, prepares a map of the claimed area and passes a resolution. This is then referred to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee and subsequently the District Level Committee. The role of forest and revenue officials is confined to verification and other prescribed processes — not to substituting the Gram Sabha — the minister pointed out.

Calls made to the Uikey’s office seeking comments on his intervention did not elicit a response.

Story continues below this ad

Two members of a task force headed by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, for effective implementation of the FRA, 2006 and the Panchayat Extension of Schedule Areas Act, 1996 — Milind Thatte and Sharadchandra Lele — also criticised the letter last week and sought its withdrawal, as did several civil society groups.

In their criticism, the members noted that two or three misconceptions about CFR rights persisted among district-level officials: that CFR rights could not be recognised in reserved or protected forests and that the Gram Sabha was required to provide evidence of the community’s continuous management and conservation of those forests. Both are contrary to the FRA’s provisions.

The FRA was enacted in 2006 to recognise and vest forest rights in forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who had resided on such lands for generations, but whose rights had not been recorded.