New Delhi: Chhattisgarh government will appoint a lawyer representing it in Supreme Court during the next hearing on the matter related to claims of forest dwellers and tribals on forest land and, if need arises, will even file a review petition in the matter.

The state chief minister Bhupesh Baghel tweeted this on Sunday, saying that this is being done as per the directions of party president Ra-hul Gandhi. “In this struggle for jungle and water rights, we lend our full support to our tribal brothers and sisters,” Mr Baghel tweeted.

Mr Gandhi on February 23, had directed the state government to file a review petition against an apex court order, which asked the states to ensure eviction of tribals and forest dwellers whose claim for the forest land have been rejected. “The recent order of the honourable Supreme Court of India in Wildlife Trust of India & others vs. Union of India & others, deserves your urgent intervention. The court has directed state governments to evict tribals and other forest dwellers whose claims under the Forest Rights Act were rejected,” Mr Gandhi said.

The Congress president said “in order to preempt largescale evictions” it would be “expedient to file a review petition” and “take any other action” as deemed fit by Mr Baghel.

“The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in its status report on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act highlighted that less than 45 per cent of the Individual Forest Rights and 50 per cent of the Community Forest Rights claims were approved as on April in 2018,” he said.

“Further, the MoTA has pointed out that forest staff often raised ‘frivolous’ objections leading to rejection,” he said.

He said in this backdrop eviction based on rejected claims alone, without a proper review and appeal process violates the due process of law.
 
“For millions of adivasis and other forest dwellers ‘Jal, Jangal and Zameen’ is integral to their Right to Life guaranteed by our Constitution. It is time for us to work towards deepening the promise of India for everyone,” the Congress chief said.

The apex court, in its February 13 order, asked the chief secretaries of the states concerned to file affidavits stating whether those against whom the rejection orders were passed have been evicted or not and if not, the reasons for the same.

On February 21, the Supreme Court asked 21 states to apprise it about the action taken by them over the eviction of tribals and forest dwellers whose claim for the forest land have been rejected.

The states which have come under the scanner of the top court are - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Manipur.