In a strongly-worded letter to Environment and Forest Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, Deo said he is "anguished to find that even five years after enactment of FRA, the statutory Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) continues blatantly to ignore the existence of both this law and the 2009 order."
Under FRA, a Gram Sabha is empowered to give its consent before diversion of forest lands. The Minister in his letter also mentioned that this provision was recognised by MoEF through its July 2009 order in which it stated it was a mandatory requirement for transferring forest land.
"I wish to share my concern at the continued practice by the MoEF's advisory and official bodies of ignoring the ST and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act when diverting forest land for large projects," Deo said.
Talking to PTI, the Union Minister said he has written the letter after getting necessary feedbacks.
"It is a continuous process. I wrote the letter on the basis of feedbacks I have received. I also talked to the Environment and Forest Minister over phone on this issue," he said.
Observing that such a practise violates the legal and constitutional rights of country's "poorest and most marginalised citizens", he wrote that it is "resulting in growing conflict, protests and litigations and hence delays in decision-making."
Referring to a FAC's recommending a thermal power project in Chhattisgarh in September without obtaining requisite certificate from the Gram Sabha, Deo said "why is it misleading both project proponents and public into believing that these projects are in compliance with the law when they often are not?"