Majority Report of the Committee Constituted to ... - Forest Rights Act

under FRA had been completed, i.e. once forest rights, if any, had been
settled on eligible forest dwellers. The State administration has since
stated that since there were no OTFDs and STs, in the project villages,
there were no claims made by the villagers of these three GPs and
therefore the formal process of inviting and finalizing of claims for
recognition of forest rights was completed and closed. However several of
the project affected villagers in the three GPs claimed they had made
both individual and community claims which were approved in their
Gram Sabha resolutions which they had submitted to the concerned
officials of the district administration. On March 23, 2008 the Palli
Sabhas in the three GPs of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang formed
forest rights committees excepting in villages of Bhuyanpal and
Noliasahi, where the said committees were formed later.
IV. Circular making compliance with Forest Rights Act mandatory
before processing applications for diversion of forest land under the
Forest Conservation Act.
14.On July 30, 2009 and August 3rd, 2009 the Ministry of
Environment and Forests (MOEF) issued circulars (Annexure A 12 and
A 13) that inter alia states, “The State/UT governments, where process
of settlement of rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional
Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA) is yet to begin
are required to enclose evidences supporting that settlement of rights
under FRA 2006 will be initiated and completed before the final approval
of proposals.” It also stated that the proposal should be accompanied by
“A letter from each of the concerned Gram Sabhas, indicating that all
formalities/processes under the FRA have been carried out, and that
they have given their consent to the proposed diversion and the
compensatory and ameliorative measures if any, having understood the
purposes and details of proposed diversion.”
15. In pursuance of the circular of the Ministry, on October 24th,
2009 (Annexure A 14), the Chief Secretary of Orissa wrote a letter to all
Collectors forwarding the Ministry circular and requesting them to issue
certificates as per its requirements, including letters from all concerned
Gram Sabhas certifying completion of the process and grant of consent
to the diversion. On December 19th, 2009 (Annexure A 15), the Collector
of Jagatsinghpur forwarded the Chief Secretary’s letter to the Block
Development Officer of Ersama Block, stating the proposed diversion for
POSCO is required to be approved in the Palli Sabhas of the area. On
this basis, he said, he would be required to give a certificate.