PORT BLAIR — For first time, the Nicobarese themselves are asking to be heard.
Chairperson Barnabas Manju, two village captains and a resident of Pulo Bhabi from Little and Great Nicobar Tribal Council have filed an impleadment application before Calcutta High Court's circuit bench at Port Blair, seeking to be made party to ongoing PIL challenging Forest Rights Act proceedings that cleared 166 sq km — 18% of Great Nicobar Island — for Centre's mega project.
The Rs 81,000-crore — now quoted as Rs 92,000-crore — project includes an international transshipment terminal at Galathea Bay, a nesting site of endangered leatherback turtles, an integrated township for 3.5 lakh people, a 450 MVA solar and gas power plant, and a greenfield dual-use airport. It needs 130.75 sq km forest diversion out of 166.1 sq km earmarked, and 16,610 hectares denotified from Tribal Reserve.
The Council's claim, reported by ‘Indian Express’ and accessed by ‘The Wire’ , is blunt:
- Community never consented to diversion.
- No Gram Sabha of tribals was ever convened under FRA.
- The Record of Forest Rights certificate dated August 18, 2022 falsely records consent of Gram Sabhas of Campbell Bay, Govind Nagar and Laxmi Nagar on August 12, 2022 meetings attended by settlers, ex-servicemen from Punjab settled in 1969 under colonisation scheme, not Nicobarese or Shompen.
- Three resolutions are identical word-to-word, unanimously approving “holistic development.”
- They always wanted to return to ancestral lands on southeastern and western coasts exactly where port is proposed after being displaced by 2004 tsunami.
Their earlier consent? Manju was made member of Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC) mandatory body under FRA to verify Gram Sabha claims only on day of meeting August 13, 2022, without documents. He signed NOC, then wrote detailed withdrawal letter November 22, 2022, saying NOC was not informed consent and did not represent entire community.
Centre's response filed late September by Environment Ministry, Tribal Affairs Ministry and Andaman & Nicobar administration opposes vehemently: RoFR is four years old, PIL by former Union secretary Meena Gupta is two years old, plea is "belated," would "irretrievably complicate and protract" and enlarge scope. If heard at all, they should only argue existing issues, not file pleadings.
Directorate of Tribal Welfare invokes legal doctrine of “approbate and reprobate” having consented, you cannot withdraw calling withdrawal "procedurally untenable" and saying tribals were “sleeping over their rights.”
That line has shocked even former bureaucrats. E A S Sarma, former secretary, wrote to President Droupadi Murmu asking her to direct Tribal Affairs Ministry to withdraw objection, saying ministry mandated to protect tribals calling them "neither necessary nor proper parties" violates spirit of A&N Islands (Tribal Councils) Regulation 2009 and A&N Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation 1956.
Earlier, Centre had objected to Gupta's locus, saying she is not resident of islands. Bench headed by Chief Justice Sujoy Paul overruled it and admitted PIL. Now same argument — delay — against actual residents.
For India, this is test of FRA: Act says forest dwellers have suo moto rights, not granted by government; government must settle them on paper. Here, committees were constituted just two months before Gram Sabhas despite FRA in force 14 years, without mandatory two ST members, and tribal council says it was never consulted for notification of three new wildlife sanctuaries in Little Nicobar, Menchal and Meroe in October 2022 to offset diversion.
Galathea port may be strategic — to counter Colombo and Singapore — but strategy cannot be built on a certificate that tribal leaders say they never gave.
Bench has not yet decided on impleadment.
(This Article Was Written by: Nikhil Ghanekar)
*Tags:* #GreatNicobar #TribalCouncil #FRA #CalcuttaHighCourt #BarnabasManju #MeenaGupta #Shompen #Nicobarese #GalatheaBay #TribalRights