The Chhattisgarh High Court has dismissed a petition questioning the cancellation of community forest rights granted to the residents of a village in the Hasdeo Arand area, where a subsidiary of the Adani Group operates two coal mines.

The High Court order, passed on October 8, pertained to the village of Ghatbarra in the Surguja district, where Adani Mining operates the Parsa East and Kete Basen coal mines. The block is owned by the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, a power generation utility wholly owned by the Rajasthan government.

Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey said that an order from 2013 granting three community forest rights titles to the villagers of Ghatbarra was erroneous, since the land had already been diverted for mining in 2012. The order from 2013 was passed by a district-level committee under the Forest Rights Act.

The Forest Rights Act is a law that gives tribal and forest-dwelling communities legal rights over the forests and lands they have lived in and used for generations.

The judge said on October 8 that the “mistake” was “rectified” through the cancellation of community forest rights, and that due to this, the order granting the rights was void ab initio, or legally invalid from the outset.

The petition before the High Court was initially filed by the Forest Rights Committee of Ghatbarra village, a body set up under the Forest Rights Act. Civil society organisation Hasdeo Arand Bachao Sangharsh Samiti also subsequently joined the petition, as did several individuals who said they were residents of Ghatbarra village.

However, the Forests Rights Committee subsequently withdrew the petition, after which the Hasdeo Arand Bachao Sangharsh Samiti contested the case.

The petitioners contended that district-level committees do not have the power to revisit their decision, and claimed that the villagers were not given an opportunity to be heard before the community forest rights were cancelled, The Hindu reported.

However, the High Court said that although the petition was filed in 2016, the petitioners had not challenged orders from 2011, 2012 and 2015 allocating coal mining or allowing forest diversions.

The judge also said the petitioners failed to disclose that they had challenged the land acquisition of the area in separate pleas in 2022, which were dismissed. The court said that the petitioners had suppressed material facts from the bench.

The court noted that the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited had completed the first phase of mining in the past 10 years, and that it was also given clearance to start the second phase of mining in 2022.

“…Three years have passed since then, and claims of the residents of village Ghatbarra with regard to individual or community forest rights, if any, can be compensated in terms of money,” the judge said.

The Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited was granted in-principle approval by the Union environment ministry in 2011, The Hindu reported. Forest diversion for both phases of mining was permitted in 2012.

However, in 2014, the Supreme Court cancelled more than 200 coal block allocations – the Parsa Coal Block in Hasdeo Arand being one of them.

In 2015, the Centre enacted the Coal Mines Special Provisions Act, under which the coal block was allocated afresh to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited.

Also read: Decades of mining has ravaged Chhattisgarh’s Korba region. Could its Hasdeo Arand forests be next?

📰 Crime Today News is proudly sponsored by DRYFRUIT & CO – A Brand by eFabby Global LLC

Design & Developed by Yes Mom Hosting