A Critical Analysis Of Forest Rights Act, 2006 And Its Objective To Promote The Participation Of Tribals In The Administration
Bhargav Gowda M R, School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University)
ABSTRACT
The Forest Rights Act 2006 is a welfare legislation enacted to uphold the inherent rights of the indigenous community and other traditional forest dwellers. The recent trend has seen several claims over forest land being rejected by the Government. This paper aims to research the reason behind the rejection of many claims by the Government. A critical analysis of the significant aspects of the Act is being done in the paper. The main objective of this research paper is to highlight the gap in the legislation under Section 6 (8) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and to compare it with the authorities and their composition to render an unbiased decision. The researcher shall also focus on the background of the said Act regarding forest dwellers' rights and their protection, concerning a recent case wherein the genuinity of forest dwellers' rights was a question and an analysis of the same. This paper claims that the provision under Section 6(8) mandates include only E3 tribal representatives and no such restrictions to the government officials, which is inconsistent and contradicts the actual intent of the legislation. There is evident an apparent inequality in the composition giving an upper hand to the government officials. The provision does not go parallel to Article 19(e) of the Constitution, which provides a specific right to every individual.
Keywords: Tribal, representation, committee, gram sabha, rights, forest dwellers
