SC takes stock of Forest Rights Act
the supreme court on March 28 said it would examine the constitutional validity of the Forests Rights Act which provides right to land to scheduled tribes and traditional forest dwellers. The court issued notices to the union and the state governments on a petition challenging the validity of the act that the union government notified in January 2008.
The petitioners, including Bombay Natural History Society (bnhs), said the parliament could not make such laws because forests were a state-subject. They also said the act had several ambiguities which would create problems in its implementation. bnhs alleged that the act stands against the principles of sustainable development. The petitioners, also including ngos, Wildlife First and Nature Conservation Society and Tiger Research and Conservation Trust, said the act invades the powers of the gram sabha. They said phrases like customary boundary of the village in the act are vague and cannot be defined.
The petition sought whether natural heritages and similar natural resources including forests would fall within the expression
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