COMMON ORDER:

Since the issue involved in these writ petitions is one and the same, they are heard together and being disposed of by way of this common order.

2) These Writ Petitions are filed by the petitioners to declare the action of respondent No.3 in issuing undated show cause eviction notice under the Telangana Forest Act, 1967 as illegal, arbitrary, violative of Articles 14, 19(1) and 21 of the Constitution of India and contrary to the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

3) Heard the submissions of Mr. Baglekar Akash Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioners in all these writ petitions; learned Government Pleader Forest appearing for respondent Nos.1 to 3 and learned Government Pleader Revenue appearing for respondent Nos.4 and 5 and with their consent, these Writ Petitions are disposed at the admission stage.

4) For the sake of convenience, the facts are referred to as mentioned in W.P.No.23667 of 2024.

5) The case of the petitioner is that he belongs to Chenchu Community, which is recognized as “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups” by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, vide notification F.No.11011/01/2019-EMRS/PVTG, dated 17.09.2019. It is further case of the petitioner that he is dependent upon the age- old practices of cultivation, fishing, grazing and collection of minor forest products such as wax, fruits, honey etc., for his livelihood and after collecting the said forest produce, the same are supplied to the Girijan Cooperative Corporation and eking out livelihood on the meager amounts paid by the said Corporation. It is further case of the petitioner that in order to claim individual and community forest right pattas as per Sections 3 and 4 of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (for short “Forest Act, 2006”) and the procedure encapsulated in Rule 3(1) of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2008 (for short ‘ROFR Rules), Grama Sabha meetings were convened to form Forest Rights Committees (hereinafter referred to as ‘FRC’) in eight villages of three Mandals of Nagarkurnool District. It is the further case of the petitioner that on 28.09.2021 Grama Sabha of his village has passed a resolution electing 15 Chenchus to form FRC. It is also case of the petitioner that all the Presidents of FRCs of Nagarkurnool submitted a representation, dated 19.06.2023 before the respondent No.4 requesting to grant individual pattas to the Chenchus and he also submitted an individual claim/representation dated 11.11.2021, which was accepted and recorded in Claim Register at Page No.72 by Panchayat Secretary, Bommanapally Village, but without following the procedure contemplated under the Forest Act, 2006 and the ROFR Rules, respondent No.3 has issued notice to the petitioner and others seeking to evict them from the lands in occupation on the ground that they have violated Sections 20(1)(C), II, III, IV, (VII) & IX and Section 20(3) of Telangana Forest Act, 1967 and that the lands which are in their possession were declared as Reserve Forest Area.

6) The grievance of the petitioners in this batch of writ petitions is that without considering the representations submitted by them for grant of individual pattas, the respondents are taking steps to evict them from the lands in occupation.

7) In Banwasi Seva Ashram v. State of Uttar Pradesh1, wherein certain Adivasi communities inhabiting the situate land were being evicted from their homes on grounds of the said land being subject to a Section 4 notification under the Forest Act, the Hon’ble Apex Court held that the said inhabitants had a right for their claims

1 (1986) 4 SCC 753

to be heard by the Forest Officer, and it was the Forest Officer, who had the power to go into the merits of the case and decide the claims of the inhabitants. The Hon’ble Apex Court further held that to further th