Chairperson’s post at the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes vacant for eight months

As the crucial body tasked with safeguarding tribal rights remains headless, critical assessments of Forest Rights Act implementation gather dust.

Women of the Nonia, Bind, and Beldar communities raise slogans during the “Belan Rally” demanding Scheduled Tribe status to be granted to them, at Milar School ground, in Patna. | Photo Credit: ANI

The Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) Harsh Chouhan resigned in June 2023, eight months before the end of his term. The chair remains vacant even today with no list of nominations, according to a Right to Information (RTI) response obtained by this reporter.

The NCST is a constitutional body under Article 338. It consists of five members: a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson, and three other members. All are appointed by the President. On February 24, the term of the acting Vice Chairperson, Ananta Nayak, also came to an end.

On February 26, Prasanna Kumar Parida, personal secretary to the Vice Chairperson confirmed that the post of the three other members at NCST is also vacant. So at present, all five posts at NCST—Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, and three other members—are all vacant.

“These positions are vacant at a time when the NCST has been considering a number of important issues related to the implementation of protective laws, the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, in particular,” a member of a working group under NCST constituted by Chouhan said on the condition of anonymity.

‘Damning information’

The member explained that the NCST commissioned critical assessments regarding the FRA and panchayats (Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996), soon after Chouhan took charge in February 2021. The assessments pointed to blatant violations of both laws in States such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. The NCST was working on reports that showed “damning information”, the member said, adding that the government is now being “extra careful” because a functional NCST would mean a revelation of all such information.

This reporter filed an RTI request with the President Secretariat seeking a list of nominations received for the post of NCST Chairman and whether a candidate has been finalised. The application was forwarded to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which replied on February 16, 2023, stating that information on both counts is “not available.”

The eight month-long vacancy is “ridiculous”, K.C. Deo, former Union Minister at the Tribal Affairs Ministry told Frontline. “It shows the kind of importance the government gives to the most marginalised sections of society.”

The Soliga people of Karnataka. | Photo Credit: Ravichandran N

Elaborating on the procedure of appointing the Chairperson, Deo said the process is initiated by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs based on suggestions by a host of groups, including those working in civil society on tribal rights issues, besides political parties. The Ministry would then finalise a candidate and communicate its decision to other relevant ministries such as the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and then to the Cabinet for approval. The President would then accord the final approval and make the official appointment.

Cabinet rank

The NCST is also a quasi-judicial body with powers of a civil court to investigate matters relating to safeguards provided for the Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution and initiate inquiries into complaints. While doing so, it can summon any person and examine their statements under oath. The NCST chairperson has the status of a Union Cabinet Minister.

“When the post has this kind of status and rank, I don’t know how you can justify keeping it vacant,” Deo added. It is a “big, big concern” that NCST, which deals with issues related to not less than 8 per cent of India’s population, has no Chairperson for eight months, said Ritwick Dutta, an environmental lawyer and founder of Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment. “The post of the NCST Chairman should not be vacant even for a day,” Dutta added.

This reporter has previously accessed documents under RTI that show how Chouhan’s opposition to amendments to the Forest Conservation Rules and the Commission’s larger work showing the poor implementation of FRA led to a run-in with the government and the Environment Ministry in particular, ultimately leading to Chouhan’s resignation. In brief, the amended Forest Conservation Rules made it easier to divert forest land without the prior approval of forest-dwelling communities. Under Chouhan, the NCST had taken on a mandate to assess the implementation of the FRA across the country.

NCST had also launched a probe in April 2023 to assess the adverse impacts on tribal communities owing to the Rs.72,000 crore mega project on the Great Nicobar Island. In a follow-up letter in May 2023 to the Andaman and Nicobar administration, the NCST also acted on a letter from the former bureaucrat E.A.S. Sharma that the mega infrastructure project on Great Nicobar Island undertaken by the Union government without prior consultation of NCST would violate constitutional safeguards for tribal communities. NCST sought a response from the Andaman and Nicobar administration in an inquiry into the matter.

More broadly, Deo said: “In the last few years, tribal rights have been slowly eroded… Forest Conservation Rules were relaxed [in a way that undermines FRA] and the FRA lies in a state of coma.” And so, Deo pointed out, the current vacancies at NCST are a reflection of such erosion.

Rishika Pardikar is an environment reporter covering science, law, and policy. She is based in Dehradun.