Supreme Court Justice Madan B lokur on Saturday stressed the need to have “re-look” in terms of incorporation of customary laws and practices through granting of “autonomy” to tribals.
He was delivering a lecture as chief guest on ‘Role of customary laws for good governance’ at Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ). “To begin any discussion on customary law and its impact and relevance on good governance, it is necessary to appreciate how custom and customary law is looked at in international law, domestic law and the possible linkages with good governance”, he said adding tribal communities in India constitute nearly 100 million people and live in about 15 per cent of the country’s total land area,” he said.
There are 622 recognised tribes in India and each with a different and long history of tradition and customary laws.