Allahabad High Court
BAHADUR AND ANOTHERversusUNION OF INDIA AND 3 OTHERS
- Decided
Holding
The Collector must decide the petitioners' pending forest rights application within three months and no coercive eviction may be undertaken for four months, pending compliance with Rule 8 of the 2007 Rules and the Forest Act, 2006.
Summary
The petitioners, claiming to be forest dwellers, sought protection over a parcel of land that the forest authorities asserted as their own. They invoked the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, arguing that any dispossession must follow Rule 8 of the 2007 Rules. The respondents contended that the petitioners' application for forest rights was still pending before the Collector of Chandauli. The Court held that if the petitioners are indeed members of scheduled tribes occupying land perceived as tribal, any action against them must comply with Rule 8 and the Forest Act, 2006. Accordingly, the Collector was directed to decide the pending application within three months and to refrain from any coercive eviction for four months. The petition was thereafter disposed.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioners, as alleged forest dwellers, are entitled to protection under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
- Whether any eviction or dispossession of the petitioners can be effected without compliance with Rule 8 of the 2007 Rules and the Forest Act, 2006.
- Whether the Collector must decide the pending application within a specified time frame.
Legislation cited
- Indian Forest Act
- Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act
- Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules — s. Rule 8
Subjects
- forest rights
- scheduled tribes
- eviction
- Rule 8
- pending application
- high court
- writ petition
Judgment
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
WRIT - C No. - 18583 of 2026
Bahadur And Another
.....Petitioner(s)
Versus
Union Of India And 3 Others
.....Respondent(s)
Counsel for Petitioner(s) : A.S.G.I., Bhupendra Kumar Tripathi,
C.S.C., Satish Kumar Mishra
Counsel for Respondent(s) :
Court No. - 40
HON'BLE SARAL SRIVASTAVA, J.
HON'BLE GARIMA PRASHAD, J.
1. Heard Sri Satish Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri
Badrinath Dubey, learned counsel holding brief of Sri Purnendu Kumar
Singh, learned counsel for the Union of India, Sri Bhupendra Kumar
Tripathi, learned counsel for the respondent No.4 and the learned Standing
Counsel for the State respondents.
2. Petitioners claim to be forest dwellers upon a piece of land which the
respondent - forest authorities claimed to be her own land.
3. It is argued by learned counsel for the petitioners that petitioners are
protected under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. It is submitted that no action of
dispossession/ throwing them out of the land claiming to be reserved for
forest area could have been taken place except by following the procedure
prescribed under Rule 8 of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional
Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2007.
4. Learned Standing Counsel submits that petitioners' application is still
pending consideration before the Collector, Chandauli, who may be directed
to dispose of the same in accordance with law.
5. Having heard learned counsel for the respective parties and having
perused the records, in our considered view, if the petitioners belong to
scheduled tribes and is having possession of some land under the impression
that it is a tribal land though the land falls in reserved forest area, any
WRIC No. 18583 of 2026
2
proceedings shall be undertaken against them only by following the
procedure prescribed under Rule 8 of Rules, 2007 and while Collector would
examine the application of the petitioners, he will ensure also that the
procedure prescribed under the Forest Act, 2006 and Regulations framed
thereunder are fully complied with.
6. The Collector concerned shall be passing appropriate order upon the
pending application of the petitioners in accordance with law within a
maximum period of three months from the date of production of certified
copy of this order.
7. Until such disposal of the application or for the period of four months
from today, no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioners to evict
them from the land in question.
8. With the aforesaid observations, the present petition is disposed off.
May 12, 2026
NS
(Garima Prashad,J.) (Saral Srivastava,J.)
Digitally signed by :-
NITIN KUMAR
High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
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