Ongoing protests against forceful eviction of non-tribals living on tribal lands in and around city appear to have left no impact on the district administration. Officials maintained that the drive would continue until last case related to illegal deal was resolved.
Circle Officers of a couple of revenue circles, including the one hit by the protests, have said that the exercise to get tribal lands restored with its original owners would be resumed from Monday onwards.
“We are going to carry on the drive in Heenu area on Monday. Similar drive will be carried out in lowadih-Hundru on Tuesday to get tribal lands evicted,” said Argora Circle Officer Vandana Bharti.
Though she didn’t divulge the details further, but added that the drive would remain unaffected from the ongoing agitations and implementation of Chhota Nagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act would be ensured.
Scheduled Area Regulation (SAR) Court officials also said that protests against implementation of CNT Act didn’t carry much water and importance, as there were multi-layered appeal opportunities there against the Court’s verdict. “There are a number of higher platforms to challenge the verdict of SAR Court. But everyone needs to understand that something which is illegal remains illegal till the law proving it illegal stands firm. So, there is no third way of dealing the situation as far as CNT Act is concerned,” said Special Regulation Officer Anant Kumar.
He said that there were over 2,500 cases of CNT Act violation and SAR Court was dealing with one by one. CNT Act which came into force in 1908 prohibits transfer or sale activities of tribal land to non-tribals. However, it allows possession of tribal land to any non-tribal if a house has been built by non-tribal on that land before 1969 and has remained a residence of non-tribal ever since. Wherever there is a case like this, the SAR Court fixes a compensation to be paid to that tribal land owner by non-tribal resident, who gets land regularised by the SAR courts.
“While hearing such cases, we have come across a term called ‘mutual consent’ a dozen of times. But it has no legal value at all and applicants need to prove themselves right beyond doubt,” said Anant Kumar.
However, the protest against forceful eviction of non-tribals from tribal lands only intensified on Sunday. Thousands of non-tribals living around Vidyanagar gathered in a peaceful meeting led by Jharkhand Truck Association president Uday Shanker Ojha and BJP leader Ajay Nath Sahdeo, who addressed them and called for a massive agitation against the drive in days to come.