No provision in Forest Rights Act to obtain gram sabha consent for projects, Tribal Affairs Ministry says

The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has clarified that there is no provision in the Forest Rights Act (FRA) for obtaining gram sabha consent for projects requiring forest clearance. This insight emerged during discussions with the Union Ministry of Power over government projects that have been delayed due to the bottleneck of obtaining 100% gram sabha consent for forest clearance.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs emphasized that such matters related to gram sabha consent do not fall under its purview. While the FRA does not explicitly mention gram sabha consent for non-forestry purposes, its rules and regulations require completing all processes under the FRA before the government authority can issue a certificate for forest diversion.

This process, known as the gram sabha consent procedure, involves identifying potential FRA claimants, recognizing their rights, vesting these rights, and obtaining a no-objection certificate (NOC) from concerned gram sabhas. The FRA designates the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as the nodal ministry for implementing the law. However, a former legal adviser to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs questioned the Ministry's position, asking whose purview it falls under if it's not the Tribal Affairs Ministry.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Undertakings observed that the average time for forest clearance of under-construction projects is 106 months, with the requirement for gram sabha consent being the critical bottleneck. The committee recommended discussing the feasibility of a "qualified super-majority consent" of 70-75% for large hydropower infrastructure projects of national importance.