The Hindu : Sport : Tribal land: out-of- court settlement sought

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Saturday, Nov 24, 2007
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Tribal land: out-of- court settlement sought

R. Madhavan Nair

Kozhikode: P. Nalla Thampy Thera, campaigner for rights of landless tribal people, has appealed to all concerned to try for an out-of-court settlement of the case relating to land rights of Adivasis.

He has sent representations to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, former Supreme Court judge V.R. Krishna Iyer, CPI(M) State general secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and former Advocate General N.K. Damodaran urging them to explore the possibility of such a settlement.

Dr. Thera’s appeal is in response to a statement made by Mr. Achuthanandan to the effect that a case pending in the Supreme Court was delaying implementation of government’s plans to give land to the landless Adivasis. Dr. Thera, a respondent in this case, has offered all help for settling the case out of court. The other respondent is A.X. Varghese from Ernakulam.

At a function in Kannur on September 23, the Chief Minister had also announced that the State government had identified 19,000 acres for landless tribal people and that all the landless, including SC/STs, in the State, would be given land in four years.

In his representations, Dr. Thera, besides seeking out of court settlement, has sought appointment of a committee of experts to identify the land available for giving one acre to each landless family.

Alienated land

In recent years Dr. Thera had been highlighting the fact that the government had not restored to tribal people the land that was taken away from them in violation of a legislation enacted in 1975. The High Court had issued a writ of mandamus in 1993 to the State government to restore alienated lands to tribal people.

While emphasising the need for quick action to complete distribution of land, he complained that action taken so far by the government to give land to landless tribal people had been nothing more than a token gesture.

As examples of the haphazard approach of the administration on this issue he alleged that in Sugandhagiri in Wayanad, out of 5,000 acres earmarked for landless tribal people only 2,000 acres had been distributed. Another example was to be found in Pukkot where the land marked for tribal people was used to establish a veterinary college of the Kerala Agricultural University.

In Wayanad district the government is reported to have received nearly 13,000 applications from landless tribal people. Only 800 families had been given land so far, Dr. Thera said.

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