Confusion over clearances for Great Nicobar project persists https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tribal-ministry-doesnt-want-to-be-part-of-nicobar-project-case/article70046019.ece
Tribal Affairs Ministry tells Calcutta HC that it should be ‘removed from the list of respondents’ as implementation of law was within the domain of Union Territory; it says NOC was ‘given on the basis of facts given by the islands administration’
Months before the Tribal Affairs Ministry sought a report from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (AN&I) administration on alleged violations of forest rights in the ₹81,000-crore Great Nicobar Islands development and infrastructure project, the Ministry had told a Bench of the Calcutta High Court that it should be dropped as a party in a petition that challenged the project’s clearances on the same grounds.
The petitions, filed by former bureaucrat Meena Gupta, argued that provisions of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006 were violated in obtaining the consent of the tribespeople to divert about 13,000 hectares of forest land required for the project.
The petition in the High Court builds on the complaint of the Tribal Council, arguing that no provision of the FRA allows for forest-dwellers to be represented through other persons in Gram Sabha meetings like the Shompen were, an argument that the A&NI administration has countered by saying that India’s official policy on “Aboriginal Tribes” allows for this.
Since these pleadings were filed before the Calcutta High Court, the Additional Solicitor General, representing the respondents, has submitted to the Bench that this case will be argued by the Attorney General of India, since “the stakes involved are very high and the project is of utmost importance”.