Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court directed state forest officials to not dispossess the tribal communities living for generations in the forest lands, without following due process of law.
Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was dealing with petitions by the group of Koya tribes, residents of Kotinagaram hamlet, which fall under Komatlagudem village, Gangaram mandal in Mahabubabad district.
The petitioners alleged that forest officials along with police forces have been trying to evict them from the village without following the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006.
Mr S. Raj Kumar, counsel for the petitioners, submitted that the panchayat authorities ought to have constituted a gram sabha to identify the forest dwelling tribals before they evicted them.
After perusing the records and the rules laid down to protect tribals in forest areas, the court directed the forest and police officials of the state to not dispossess the petitioners without identifying the tribals by conducting the gram sabhas.
The court issued notices to the state to file a counter in this regard and adjourned the cases to July 17, 2019.
