The Uttarakhand Forest Department served eviction notices to reportedly 400 Van Gujjar households in the Terai East and West Forest Divisions of Nainital District in May 2023. Despite, these traditionally forest-dwelling pastoralists having pending Forest Rights Act claims, the orders were issued.

According to a report by The Hindu, these notices were part of the government’s drive to clear forest land of “encroachments”. About 256 hectares of forest land, including small shops, riverside huts, temples, and mazars were removed in the drive. Several villagers from the affected areas and members of Van Panchayat Sangharsh Morcha (VPSM), an organisation dedicated to safeguarding the rights of these forest dwellers, protested against the displacement.

They wrote letters to senior government officials about how provisions of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) were violated. The argument was that the eviction notices were sent by officers at the level of "Van Daroga" and under the FRA, the process could only be initiated under the rank of the Divisional Forest Officer. Eventually, in an order dated May 25, the Forest Department admitted to lapses in the way eviction notices were being issued. They also claimed that the exercise was only meant to inform Van Gujjars that anti-forest activities would not be tolerated.

While a Supreme Court order in 2019 already stayed the eviction of the forest-dwelling communities, there is another case in Uttarakhand High Court that is currently seeking to provide rights under FRA to Van Gujjars. The petition sought to quash petty cases charged against the 'tribal' community, monetary compensation to those who were removed from the forest without following due process, and an opportunity to file their claims over forest land.

The HC order in the case dated 17 March 2021 asked for a re-constitution of the committee to examine many points that questioned the 'encroachment drives' and demanded recognition of Van Gujjar's land rights. Despite all these legal proceedings and the ongoing hearings against eviction notices, the nomadic community has been denied access to their agricultural lands, according to Tarun Joshi, a member of VPSM. There were also cases where hearings resulted in a fresh eviction order.

One such case is of Mohammad Shafi from Tumadiya Khata, who was accused of illegally occupying 1.39 hectares of forest land. An eviction notice was issued against him on 11 September 2023 and the hearing date was fixed for two days later. The hearing concluded on 28 October and stated that Shafi could not provide any evidence, records, documents, or maps that could provide that his settlement was on private land and not the reserve forest. The order gave him 10 days to evict from the disputed region.

Shafi eventually filed a case against the eviction order in the Uttarakhand High Court claiming that his family resided in the village since 1927 after they migrated with some cattle and started dealing in dairy products. The court stayed his eviction as his claim of being an OFTD (Other Traditional Forest Dwellers) was still pending and the tribal ministry had earlier directed the state authority to not evict a person in such cases.

Joshi claimed that about 20-22 Van Gujjars were affected due to eviction notices from Tumadiya Khata village. He showed a letter that their organisation was planning on sending to the forest conservator of Haldwani, Nainital. It complained against the forest authorities' efforts to prevent the residents from sowing fodder and crops and illegally seizing of their vehicles. As per his estimate, about 60-66 acres of land was disputed as each household owned an average of 2 to 3 acres.

According to Ameer Hamza, president of the Van Gujjar Tribal Yuva Sangathan (VGTYS), a youth organization, the primary conflict in the Kumaon region, where Shafi lived, revolved around cultivable land. However, in the neighbouring Garhwal region, the contested land included people's homes, leaving many on the brink of homelessness.  

Historically, these communities have struggled with a lack of recognition of their land rights due to their nomadic lifestyle. They migrate seasonally between the Himalayan ‘bugyals’ (meadows) in summer and the lower Shivalik mountains in winter.

Additionally, Uttarakhand has a bad track record of the implementation of FRA. Only 184 Individual Forest Rights (IFR) and one Community Forest Rights (CFR) titles have been issued against the 3,587 and 3,091 IFR and CFR claims filed until June 2024, as per data presented in the Rajya Sabha.