Ex-Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das demands PESA rules be made public

Ranchi, Dec 30 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Raghubar Das on Tuesday demanded that the Jharkhand government make the Panchayats Extension to the Scheduled Areas (PESA) rules public at the earliest.

The former CM said he suspected that the rules, recently passed by the state cabinet, might have ignored many core provisions proposed in the PESA Act, 1996.

"Since the approved PESA rules have not yet been made public, I suspect that the state government has ignored many of the core provisions of the PESA Act," Das told reporters here.

Das said that the provisions under Section 4 (a) of the PESA Act, 1996, clearly provide that any state legislation made regarding panchayats shall be in conformity with customary law, social and religious practices, and traditional management practices of community resources, but the state government has reportedly "deliberately ignored these in the approved rules".

He said it has not been clarified whether the chairmanship of the gram sabha will be reserved for people from tribal orthodox traditions or would also be opened for those who have converted to other religions.

"I believe that rather than erasing the tribal orthodox system, it should be empowered through legal recognition so that their cultural identity, traditional justice system, and their control over resources remain intact," Das added.

He said that under the PESA Act, 1996, there are provisions that rights over minor minerals, forest produce, water sources, and other collective resources have to be granted to gram sabhas.

However, in the state government's rules, it remains to be seen whether these powers have actually been devolved to the gram sabhas or whether the government intends to retain full control over them. PTI RPS RPS ACD