New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued notice to Rajasthan government on a petition filed by a group of tribal women for saving their dwellings from razing by a mine owner.
Issuing the notice to the state’s Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police on June 3, the apex court’s vacation bench comprising Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy asked the administration to “protect the well-being” of the poor tribals.
Some tribal women from Kota were present in the court.
When senior counsel Lily Isabel Thomas and Saju Jacob urged the court to direct that the demolition of the tribals’ dwellings be stopped, the bench again emphasized the words “well-being.”
Twelve tribal women of Julmi village in Kota district sought the top court’s intervention in protecting their houses from demolition.
The mine owner, who claims to have mining rights over the land on which the houses stand, has already razed 42 houses on another piece of land.
The petitioner’s other counsel S.K. Bandyopadhyay disputed the mine owner’s claim and said that the adivasis held ‘pattas’ (lease) of land on which their houses are constructed.
He said the aggrieved tribals have already moved the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes for justice.
Three tribal women, who were present in the court, said the mine owner had bulldozed their ‘pipal’ tree and two temples, including one of Lord Shiva.
Lawyer Saju Jacob alleged that the local administration was indifferent to the petitioners’ plight.
“Merely because they have no financial capacity, the local administration should not be under the illusion that they (poor adivasis) can’t move the Supreme Court for securing their rights,” Jacob said after the hearing.
He said the petitioners’ ancestors were brought to the desert state as bonded labourers and it were they who through their hard work had made the area green, The Times of India reported.