The states suggested that like fast track civil courts, there should be fast track revenue courts to settle land disputes in tribal areas.
"It is a very good suggestion, which I would take up with my colleague Law Minister (Salman Khurshid) and we will take it forward," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said at the State Revenue Ministers Conference, chaired by him.
The Naxal-affected states, including Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, also demanded creation of a para-legal Army to help tribals fight land cases that are pending at various levels of judiciary.
Noting that Andhra Pradesh has created such a force, Ramesh narrated the story of a tribal woman, Mangu Bai, whose 10 acre land was taken away by a non-tribal and how she won the case with the help of the para-legal Army 35 years after the incident.
The minister said one of the factors responsible for the spread of Naxal ideology in tribal area is land dispute.
"It is the alienation of tribal lands that is in the heart of the growth of Naxalite ideology in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. If we are able to provide tribals justice in land-related disputes, I think we can dealt with Naxalism in very effective way," he said.
