Much to the relief of the tribespeople who have long been demanding assignment of land, the Kerala High Court has directed the State government to take immediate steps to allot and assign land to eligible tribespeople.
Justice P.V. Asha directed the State government to commence the proceeding for allotment of land in two months and ensure that the land reached the needy.
The directive was issued while disposing of a writ petition filed by P. Sivan of Palakkad.
According to him, the government had not taken any steps to provide tribespeople like him the required land despite the enactment of the Kerala Restriction on Transfer by and Restoration of Land to Scheduled Tribes Act, 1999 and a Supreme Court directive to assign land to the landless tribespeople in terms of the decisions taken at a meeting convened by the Chief Minister in February 2001.
Police action
Instead, the police were demolishing the huts constructed by them, especially in Perumaatty grama panchayat, on the allegation that they had encroached on government land.
The 2001 meeting decided to allot not less than five acres for those residing in project area and not less than one acre to others.
The court observed that it was high time the government formulated guidelines for assignment of land to the needy tribespeople.
The court said that when there were 797 applications, the government could not shut its eyes to the provisions of the Act and could not deny the benefits of the provisions, saying that no land was available.
SC observation
Besides, the apex court had itself observed that it was open to the government to acquire land and assign them to the needy within a time frame.
It was unfortunate that the provisions of the Act were not being implemented in its true spirit and intent.
It was the duty of the government to see that the provisions were implemented in terms of the directives by the Supreme Court.
The court noted that the government had not filed any affidavit so far though the writ was filed in 2010.
