In a move to curb the menace of illegal mining activities, the Centre is taking legal advice to stop state governments leasing out land in tribal areas to corporates by flouting the existing laws. The move has come in the backdrop of reports of a number of state governments leasing out land to corporates for mining and other activities in the tribal areas.
Union panchayati raj minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo told this newspaper that “he is seized of the issue” and is taking legal advice. The existing laws for the schedule areas bar non-tribals from buying or taking the land on lease. But a number of reports are coming to the ministry suggesting that people are forming corporate entities to get land in the tribal areas on lease, which too is against the law, said Mr Deo.
“The governors have special powers by which they can revoke the laws on the issue of land. We will have to go into the ambit of this. There is spurt on the part of the state governments awarding tribal land to corporate. Therefore, I am taking legal advice to deal with the issue,” Mr Deo told this newspaper.
The minister also informed that the ministry of environment has agreed to the suggestion that no clearance be given for change of land use unless and until gram sabha for each village passes a resolution in this regard. “There had been reports of contrived gram sabha resolutions for change in land user in the schedule areas. We had suggested to the ministry of environment that unless gram sabha resolutions, with a village as a unit and not for combined 15 villages as had been the practice, pass resolution in the schedule areas no clearance should be given. Our suggestion has been accepted,” said Mr Deo, who added that the prerequisite for the clearance would also be compliance with the Forest Rights Act.
The minister said that the gram sabha proceedings also need to be video-graphed to ensure transparency in the whole exercise.