In January 2024, residents of Khedasan village in the Sabarkantha district of Gujarat began receiving notices from the District Level Committee (DLC), which is one of the bodies constituted to decide on Forest Rights claims. These notices informed the villagers that their claims had been rejected as no possession was found as per the GEER Foundation report. GEER Foundation, an autonomous body for ecological research set up by the state forest department, was tasked with carrying out the satellite imagery of the land claimed under FRA in Gujarat.
The villagers had first filed claims in 2008. Of the 78 FRA claims initially filed, only 4 had been approved. However, the Gujarat High Court found that the exercise was “undemocratic” as only the satellite imageries were used for verification, ignoring all other records, and ordered a re-verification of the rejected claims.
This year about 30 claimants from the village got re-rejected despite having other evidence like elders' testimonies and site inspection at the Gram Sabha level that verified the occupation of their lands. As per Rules 12A and 13 of the FRA Act, satellite imagery cannot be used as primary evidence. Additionally, the 2013 Gujarat High Court judgment said that the satellite imagery was supposed to be used only as supplementary evidence to approve FRA claims and not as an instrument to reject them.
The villagers alleged that they were not called by the DLC or given some time to produce the kind of evidence they wanted if they believed there was a lack of sufficient proof. The DLC meeting to settle the FRA claims of the Sabarkantha district was held in December last year and it involved several villages. However, villagers from the Khedasan were the only ones who faced mass rejection and received instant notices.
This was also followed by a notice from the forest department that ordered the villagers to clear encroachment from the forest land measuring 344,85,270 hectares. It claimed that it was a "reserved forest" under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act 1927, making its occupation illegal. It referenced the rejection of their claims through the satellite imagery verification report by the GEER Foundation and gave them an ultimatum that if they did not stop unauthorised activities in the forest within 10 days, legal action would be taken against them.
The forest department officials had harassed the villagers even before their FRA claims were assessed. A trail of communication between them and the DLC revealed through an RTI found that the DLC asked the forest department twice in 2023 to not remove the villagers from their land until their FRA claims are settled. The villagers also alleged that the forest department officials used to beat them up and forcefully carry out plantations on their land.
The social activist Kishor Choudhary, who helped train the villagers of the district in mapping the claimed land through GPS that goes for verification to the GEER Foundation, said that there was a lack of transparency. He said that the GEER Foundation should be sharing their report with the villagers so they could ascertain whether it was correct or not.
The ARCH organisation in Gujarat has also been helping the claimants in the state to create their own GPS/Satellite maps wanted those maps to be given equal consideration as the GEER Foundation report so the process is not centralised.
Meanwhile, the villagers approached the Gujarat High Court against the FRA rejection. They had also petitioned the district authorities, which assured them that they would hear their grievances. Forest officials, on the other hand, have not budged and still claimed that the villagers have no rights over the land.
Demand/Contention of the Affected Community
Complaint against procedural violations
Demand for legal recognition of land rights
Demand to retain/protect access to common land/resources
Other Demand/Contention of the Affected Community
Region Classification
Rural
Type of Land
Common
Forest
What was the action taken by the police?
How many people did the police detain or arrest?
What is the current status of the detained/accused persons?
Did the person face any violence while in police custody?
If any arrests took place, were the accused persons produced before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest?
If the accused was not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, or not produced at all, what were the reasons?
Legislation under which the accused was charged
Was the accused person informed of their right to legal representation? Did the accused person have access to legal aid?
In cases where the accused person approached the court for bail, was bail granted?
Why was bail granted or rejected? If granted, what were the bail conditions and quantum of bail?
Details of sources (names of accused, names and numbers of any lawyers, names of any police officers contacted)
Status of Project
Original Project Deadline
Whether the Project has been Delayed
Significance of Land to Land Owners/Users
Other Natural Resource extraction/dependence, Agricultural land
Whether the project was stalled due to land conflict
Source/Reference
Total investment involved (in Crores):
₹
Type of investment:
Year of Estimation
Has the Conflict Ended?
No
When did it end?
Why did the conflict end?
Categories of Legislations Involved in the Conflict
Legislations/Policies Involved
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Whether claims/objections were made as per procedure in the relevant statute
What was the claim(s)/objection(s) raised by the community?
What was the Decision of the Concerned Government Department?
Legal Processes and Loopholes Enabling the Conflict:
Forced evictions/dispossession of land
Non-implementation/violation of FRA
Legal Status:
In Court
Status of Case In Court
Pending
Whether any adjudicatory body was approached
No
Name of the adjudicatory body
Name(s) of the Court(s)
Gujarat High Court
Case Number
R/Special Civil Application 4162/2024
Main Reasoning/Decision of court
Major Human Rights Violations Related to the Conflict:
Displacement
Other harassment
Whether criminal law was used against protestors:
No
Reported Details of the Violation:
Date of Violation
Location of Violation
Gujarat
Kumar Sambhav is a social entrepreneur and award-winning journalist, leading innovative research in accountability investigations. He is the founder of Land Conflict Watch and is currently working as India Research Lead with Princeton University’s Digital Witness Lab.
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