New Delhi, Jul 4 (PTI) Harsh Chouhan has resigned as the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) eight months before the completion of his term, with Congress MP Jairam Ramesh claiming on Tuesday that he paid the price for confronting the Union Environment Ministry on the issue of forests and tribal rights.
However, sources said Chouhan’s resignation follows the government’s annual performance appraisal.
“He had been facing health issues and could attend only two hearings. The member (Ananta Nayak) conducted the rest,” an official source told PTI.
According to NCST rules, the chairperson is responsible for presiding over the hearings in the commission. In the absence of the chairperson, the vice-chairperson should conduct the hearings.
A senior NCST official said, “Chouhan resigned on June 26 and we received information about the President accepting his resignation on June 27.” The Congress linked Chouhan’s resignation to his stance on the new Forest Conservation Rules, 2022 allegedly encroaching on tribal rights.
In September last year, Chouhan had written to the Environment Ministry seeking the suspension of the rules. He had also urged the ministry to “reinstate, strengthen, and strictly monitor” compliance with certain provisions of the 2017 Forest Conservation Rules, including obtaining consent from gram sabhas before the diversion of forest land for any project.
After the Environment Ministry dismissed his concerns in January this year, Chouhan told PTI that the NCST was “fulfilling its constitutional mandate of protecting tribal rights and would continue to do so”.
In a tweet, Congress leader Ramesh alleged Chouhan has been “forced” to resign eight months before the end of his term.
“In February 2021, Harsh Chouhan was appointed as Chairperson of the National Commission on Scheduled Tribes, a Constitutional body. He has been taking very strong objections, like many activists and I have done, to the way forest laws have been diluted in the last two years, hurting the interests of adivasis. He has confronted the Environment and Forests Ministry boldly.
“Now he has paid the price for his commitment and courage. He has been forced to resign eight months before his term ends. So much for the Modi government’s concerns for the welfare of tribal communities and the independence of Constitutional authorities,” Ramesh said.
With Chouhan’s resignation, the tribal panel is currently without a chairman and is operating with only one member, Ananta Nayak. Before Chouhan’s appointment in February 2021 for a three-year term, the panel had been functioning without a chairman for around a year after the completion of Nand Kumar Sai’s tenure as NCST chairman on February 27, 2020.
The position of vice-chairperson has remained vacant since July 2019, when the then vice-chairperson Anusuiya Uikey was appointed the Governor of Chhattisgarh. Currently, Uikey is the Governor of Manipur.
Established in February 2004 under Article 338A of the Constitution, the NCST is a constitutional body tasked with safeguarding and promoting the rights, interests and welfare of Scheduled Tribes in the country.
The President appoints the chairperson, vice-chairperson and members of the commission for a three-year term. The chairperson holds the rank of a Union Cabinet minister, the vice-chairperson holds the rank of a Minister of State, and the three members hold the rank of a secretary to the government of India. PTI GVS DIV DIV
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