| Over 39,000 land claims under FRA rejected | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 26: The Jammu and Kashmir government has rejected over 39,000 claims for land ownership under the Forest Rights Act but has distributed over 65,000 kanals of forest land to over 6,020 scheduled tribe (ST) families, including Gujjars, Bakerwals and other forest dwellers.
A total of 46,090 claims were submitted by Scheduled Tribes (ST) and other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs) under Individual Forest Rights (IFR) and Community Forest Rights (CFR), senior officials from the forest department said.
"Of these, 39,906 claims were rejected due to applicants' inability to provide requisite evidence and documents, while 126 claims are still pending," an official said.
The majority of the rejections-35,924 claims-occurred at the gram sabha level, primarily due to lack of supporting documents, they said. Additionally, 3,982 claims were rejected at the sub-divisional and district-level committees, they said.
The Forest Rights Act mandates a structured process for claim recognition, with approvals granted by gram sabhas, sub-divisional committees, and district-level committees based on laid-down procedures and norms.
"Applications failing to meet these criteria are not considered," the official said. However, applicants whose claims are rejected have the right to appeal at higher levels, with the final appeal heard by the district-level committee, they said.
The Forest Rights Act, 2006, was implemented in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370.
Of the 65,497.21 kanals of forest land distributed by the J&K government, 784.19 kanals were allocated to other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs), officials added.
These lands were granted under 4,803 cases, comprising 430 individual forest rights (IFR), 4,277 community forest rights (CFR) and 96 community forest rights.
Among the 6,020 land titles issued to ST families in the Jammu region received the majority, they received the highest 5,195 land titles were issued in 10 districts of the region, they said.
However, 825 land titles were only issued to Gujjars and Bakerwals in Kashmir, they said.
"No forest land was allocated to ST communities in Srinagar district, and only one land title was issued in Baramulla," the data revealed.
Additionally, five land titles each were issued in Ganderbal and Udhampur districts followed by seven titles issued in Kulgam district, Rajouri district recorded the highest number of land titles at 2,852, followed by Poonch district with 1,902 titles, they said.
The implementation of the FEA in J&K remains a crucial step toward recognising the rights of tribal communities while ensuring compliance with legal and administrative norms, officials said.
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