With 20,000 cases of nautor pending, the revenue, horticulture and tribal development minister Jagat Singh Negi on Friday urged governor Kavinder Gupta to take an early decision on a long-pending demand concerning land allotment in the state’s tribal areas.
Nautor in Himachal Pradesh refers to the grant of unoccupied or waste government land to eligible landless or small-scale local residents for agriculture, horticulture, or building purposes.
Addressing the media on Friday, Negi said the demand relates to the allotment of government and forest land to eligible residents of tribal areas under the nautor system. He said the process has been stalled because of restrictions under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, but maintained that the governor has special constitutional powers under Article 5 of the Fifth Schedule in relation to scheduled areas.
Negi said the state government has repeatedly urged the governor to exercise these powers, following the precedent of earlier governors who had suspended the application of the Forest Conservation Act in tribal areas for specified periods.
According to Negi, around 20,000 applications or claims are pending before authorities at the sub-divisional level, particularly in tribal districts and areas including Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Pangi-Bharmour.
{{/usCountry}}According to Negi, around 20,000 applications or claims are pending before authorities at the sub-divisional level, particularly in tribal districts and areas including Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Pangi-Bharmour.
{{/usCountry}}“The rule is very simple. Anyone in the tribal area who has less than 20 bighas of land, whether he belongs to the Congress, BJP or no political party at all, can apply for land up to 20 bighas, subject to availability in the village,” he said.
Negi said the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 had previously been suspended in tribal areas following the exercise of constitutional powers by the governor. He said that during the Congress government between 2014 and 2017, the Act was suspended for a period, enabling authorities to process nautor cases and conduct joint inspections.
He alleged that when the BJP government came to power, the suspension continued only for a limited period and very few cases were ultimately settled. “I have met the governor Shiv Pratap Shukla around ten times on this issue. Tribal MLAs, including the BJP MLA, have also met him, and members of the Tribal Advisory Council have raised the matter,” Negi said.
He said he met the governor again on Thursday and placed the matter before him in detail. “The governor has assured me that he will call a meeting of the concerned officers and take a decision on the matter,” Negi said.