The fate of the bauxite mining project of Sterlite, a subsidiary of Vedanta Group, to be set up in Odisha’s Niyamgiri hills, now rests with the Gram Sabha. The Court empowered the Gram Sabha on Thursday to take a call on the future of the project while considering the religious and cultural rights of the primitive Dongaria Kondh tribes.
The court granted six weeks to local tribes to file a representation before the Gram Sabha, which will decide the issue in three months. The State Government will also give prior notice to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs at the Centre.
The Gram Sabha’s decision would be conveyed by the State Government to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) that will take a final call on granting forest clearance for the project within two months, “in the light of the decisions of the Gram Sabha.”
The local community had challenged the project — a joint venture of State-run Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Sterlite India Industries limited (parent company of Vedanta) for which 660.749 hectares of forest land had to
be diverted.
The Centre had initially given in-principle forest clearance to the project on December 11, 2008, but after a joint inspection by an expert team in 2010 the Centre rejected the Stage II forest clearance for the project on August 24, 2010. This was challenged by OMC in Supreme Court.
Interestingly, the MoEF’s decision to reverse its 2008 order was based on a report submitted by a four-member committee headed by Naresh Saxena which pointed out “blatant disregard” of the rights of the tribals and primitive tribal groups settled in the region, who were totally dependent on forests.
This not only violated the Forest (Conservation) Act 1986 but even the more sacrosanct Scheduled Tribes and Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forests Rights) Act 2006. In addition, the project was also found to violate provisions under the Environment (Protection) Act.
Without making it a Centre-State tussle over grant of forest clearance to the bauxite project, the apex bench considered the religious and cultural rights of the tribes and weaved it into the regime for environment protection.
The bench of Justices Aftab Alam, KS Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi said: “They (tribes in scheduled areas) have a vital role to play in environmental management and development because of their knowledge and traditional practices.”
This was perhaps the first case where primitive tribe members of the region took the legal route by approaching the National Environment Appellate Authority against the environmental clearance granted to the project.
The bench examined the claim of the Dongaria Kondhs and Kutia Kandha tribes, among other tribes, to have right of worship over Niyamgiri, near Hundaljali, which is a hilltop known as Niyam-Raja, located 10 kilometers away from the proposed mining site called Niyama Danger.
Giving a wide scope to the Gram Sabha to review the project, the bench said: “The Gram Sabha is also free to consider all the community, individual as well as cultural and religious claims, over and above the claims which have already been received from Rayagada and Kalahandi districts.
“If the bauxite mining project in any way affects their right to worship their deity, that right has to be preserved and protected.”
To ensure that the proceedings of the Gram Sabha are carried out “independently” and are “uninfluenced”, the Court directed the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court to depute a District Judge rank officer to be an observer at the meetings and sign the minutes.