report of the committee on land matters in andaman and

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LAND MATTERS

IN ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS

Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India

DECEMBER 2017

Tribute to Andamans

“ANDAMANS… ”

O Mortals! I AM a land of ancient waters,

an adress of long forgotten quarters, where heaven and earth meet,

and races from antiquity await to greet…

for my rural tresses of earthy smells, and charcoal clouds of mystic spells,

were meant to enchant heathen lovers of nature, and bewitch their senses into submission…

for i am the mother of forest pure and virgin,

and my mountains are dressed in fog and green, and i protect all those who seek refuge,

in my anonymous land of solitude…

my sands are golden and crescent, laid beneath the canopy of ageless stars,

i am the owner of darkest of nights and yellowest of days, for i am the lover of everything wild…

o slaves! but i warn thee,

you have been enslaved before, do not write your destiny by destrying me,

for every destruction has brought about my creation, i will remain young forever in letter and in spirit,

even long after your time has gone…

so surrender, do not plunder, for my graves are watery,

i was meant to be tamed by no man, behold my glory i am andaman…

--- By Piyush rohankar

Contents

Executive Summary _______________________________________________________________ 1 - 2

Intoduction and overview __________________________________________________________ 3 - 17

Terms of Refrence _________________________________________________________________ 18

Terms of Refernce A & B __________________________________________________________ 19 - 34

Recomendations A & B ___________________________________________________________ 34 - 41

Terms of Refernce C ______________________________________________________________ 42 -46

Recomendations C ______________________________________________________________ 47 - 49

Terms of Refernce D ______________________________________________________________ 50 - 67

Recomendations D _______________________________________________________________ 68 - 70

Terms of Refernce E ______________________________________________________________ 71 - 93

Recomendations E _______________________________________________________________ 94 - 98

Terms of Refernce F (Revenue) ____________________________________________________ 99 - 114

Terms of Refernce F (Forest) _____________________________________________________ 115 - 117

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Resolution of land issues is generally time taking, often painstaking, and at times seemingly intractable matter. The gamut of land issues examined by the Committee displayed all these features. But it also brought out a significant facet that the case of Andaman & Nicobar Islands is, in many ways, sui generis, one of its own kind.

Most of the demography of the Islands derives from the pre-and post-Independence settlement policies. Land was a basis of both sustenance and identity of settlers coming from the mainland. But in a predominantly forest area, there were limitations to growth and development. And the havoc of tsunami in 2004 made matters worse.

The Committee interfaced with all sections of stakeholders, held public meetings, made field visits, went through copious records, heard the public representatives and had discussions with officers concerned. The upshot is a series of recommendations which, if implemented in toto, may go a long way in resolving chronic land issues.

The compensation package for land lost to tsunami was clearly a compensation package, albeit an inadequate one. To regard it as relief package will not be justified, but a higher compensation, closer to the livelihood potential of the land lost, would be appropriate for those who opted for irrevocable surrender of land. Those who then opted to retain their portion of the submerged land, could continue to do so. The Committee has, as a fair and equitable dispensation, recommended accordingly.

As regards the pre-1961 occupants who were not pre-1942, the Committee felt that restriction of the occupants being pre-1942 in the regularization scheme of 2003 approved by the Ministry was not tenable. Hence the Committee recommends that the excess land with pre-1961 occupants, as documented in the 1961 survey, should be regularized without any premium on the condition that the excess land will be regularized to the extent the occupants and their descendants have maintained their continuous possession of pre-1961 excess area of land till date.

The then pre-1978 in-situ forest encroachers presently lying in 19 de-reserved blocks, now Revenue villages, need to be evicted and the ex-situ forest Pre-1978

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need to be accommodated as per previous plans, in compliance of the Apex Court orders dated 07.05.2002. The ex-situ pre-1978 forest encroachers who have been allotted 01 Ha land in the de-reserved blocks (now revenue village) should be evicted from the forest area and asked to occupy the allotted land in de-reserved pockets.

The above actions are dependent upon the administration getting land vacated in the 19 de-reserved blocks from the excess possession of pre-1978 forest encroachers (in-situ) and eviction of post-1978 forest encroachers of 19 de-reserved block; the latter hinges upon the settlement plan approved by MHA pending decision under IA 2784/ 2010 before Hon’ble Supreme Court.

For the post-1978 encroachers, MHA has approved the Settlement Plan of 2009 wherein the land under the possession of post-1978 encroachers may be regularized to the extent of 200 Sq. mtrs. (Urban) and 340 Sq. mtrs. (Rural). To this end, the Andaman & Nicobar Administration had filed IA 2784/ 2010 before the Apex Court seeking permission for implementation of the said plan. As a tangible way forward, Committee recommends an early decision in IA 2784/ 2010.

The Committee observed a significant point that the post-1978 forest encroachers occupying land in the 19 de-reserved blocks are neither covered in the list of post-1978 revenue encroachers, nor in the list of post-1978 forest encroachers. These post-1978 forest encroachers need to be duly included in the settlement plan.

Encroachments on public lands must, however, be made to stop eventually, and planned development must take its place. The current land regime needs to be overhauled and replaced by one capable of planned development of the Islands.

The Committee is of the firm view that both the legal and administrative frameworks underlying revenue administration need to be significantly strengthened. Weak capacity in management of lands has been a major factor behind the prevailing state of affairs. The 1966 regulatory framework needs be amended to suit present day needs and dedicated capacity needs to be created for effective land management.

The Committee strongly feels taking a macro and long-term view by the Government of India on the issue of land management in the Islands. This may involve a paradigm shift in so far as the approach to economic development in the Islands goes, and may involve freeing of more land from forest cover, for holistic development of the Islands, in an environmentally sound and sustainable manner.

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1. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands are a remotely located group of 572 Islands in the Andaman Sea with 38 inhabited Islands. The geographical area of the Islands is 8249 Sq Kms. spread across a distance of about 736 Kms from North to South. The Islands are broadly equidistant from Chennai, Vishakhapatnam and Kolkata with a flying time of about two hours and a boat journey of about three days. The Islands are closer to Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia than they are to the Indian mainland.

Benchmarking:

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands are comparable in size to large tropical Island nations like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and are much larger than Islands countries in the neighborhood like Maldives, Seychelles and Singapore.

The Table below presents a benchmarking of Andaman & Nicobar Islands with some important comparators-

Benchmarking of Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Sl No

Name Area (Sq Km)

Area under forest (%)

Population Density (person/ Sq.Km)

Tourist Arrivals (2005) (Lakhs)

Per capita income (2005)

1 A & N Islands

8249 90 43 0.56 637

2 Maldives 300 3.3 1287 3.95 4600 3 Seychelles 451 66.7 182 1.29 16600 4 Singapore 707 3.3 6517 89.43 49990 5 Jamaica 10830 30 257 14.78 4800 6 Trinidad

&Tobago 5128 50.5 206 4.63 21700

7 Barbados 430 4.7 656 5.47 18900 8 Fiji 18274 44.6 50 5.50 4100

(source : Tourism Policy, A & N Administration, 2010)

The above table indicates clearly that the A & N Islands are one of the larger Island Territories in the Tropics with a disproportionately high area under forest cover. With low per capita income and low tourist arrivals, the economic potential of A & N Islands is yet to be tapped. The excessive focus on preserving forest cover compared to other Island nations has undermined the economic growth and livelihood opportunities for persons residing in A & N Islands. The Committee believes that a major course correction is called, for based on international experience, by striking a better balance between

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economic growth and environmental sustainability, as has been achieved in comparator Island territories.

Land use pattern

Being isolated for millennia, the A & N Islands enjoy a high degree of endemism and are also home to three major Primitive Tribe (population about 600-700) who continue to the hunters and gatherers. It is therefore not surprising that the A & N Islands are recognized as a treasure trove in terms of biodiversity and a virtual laboratory for anthropologists. The priority for forest cover is reflected in the land use pattern which is as below:

Reserved / Protected forest 7171 Sq Km ( 86.93 %) Water bodies, Coastal land, Intertidal Zone, Mud Flats, Coral reefs etc.

394.54 Sq Km (4.79%)

Revenue area( Deemed forest) 162.50 Sq Km( 1.97%) Effective Revenue land available with A & N Admin.

520.51 ( 6.31 %)

8249 Sq Km

Out of 520.51 Sq Km revenue land, 325.80 Sq Km is under utilization by way of allotment to private persons and Govt. Depts. An additional area of 187 Sq Km is under utilization for common facilities like roads, grazing land and other purposes. The Revenue Dept. is therefore left with only about 7.71 sq km land for development requirements. Development options are severely constrained due to acute shortage of land. The conversion of 162.50 sq km of Revenue land into “deemed” forest land, pursuant to orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in 1996, has dealt a big blow to any efforts for Planned Development of these Islands.

The Tsunami of 2004 dealt a further blow to the Islands with 1244.4942 hectare of prime agriculture land coming under submergence, thereby being rendered unsuitable for cultivation.

Settlements

The Islands were populated through penal settlements starting from 1858. The policy for colonization and settlement gathered place after independence and several waves of migrants were settled in the Islands during 1951-1981. This is clearly borne out by population census data for A & N Islands, as below:

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Census Population Decadal Growth (percentage)

All India decadal growth (percentage)

1901 24649 - - 1911 26459 7.34 5.75 1921 27086 2.37 -0.31 1931 29463 8.78 11.00 1941 33768 14.16 14.22 1951 30971 -8.28 13.31 1961 63548 105.19 21.51 1971 115130 81.17 24.80 1981 188741 63.93 24.66 1991 280661 48.70 23.87 2001 356152 26.90 21.54 2011 380581 6.86 17.68

The population of the Islands ranged between 25,000-30,000 during 1901-1951. The population exploded from 30971 in 1951 to 188741 in 1981 (six times), after which settlements were stopped. The problems of land hunger and encroachments are a direct consequence of the massive influx during 1951-1981, and natural migration thereafter.

It may be noted that the influx slowed down dramatically during 2001- 2011, with the decadal growth dropping to 6.86% compared to the All India growth of 17.68%. The problem of continuing unabated influx into the Islands therefore appears to the overstated and exaggerated on the basis of the 2011 Census data. The demand for introduction of Inner Line Permit system needs to be considered in this context.

Economic Structure:

The Sectoral composition of GSDP has been impacted as a result of the demographic changes.

The share of primary sector in GSDP (constant 1993 prices) has decreased from 44.23% in 1981-82 to 30.08 % in 2001-02. The share of the secondary sector has decreased marginally from 24.67% to 22.44% while the share of tertiary sector has increased from 31.09 % to 47.48 % during the period. The tertiary sector has expanded while the other parts of the economy have shrunk in relative terms.

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Occupational Structure:

These changes in the sectoral composition of GSDP are mirrored by changes in the occupational structure as shown below:

Census Total workers

Cultivators Agricultural labour

Other workers

1961 31194 6455 348 24391 1971 45333 6277 2127 37929 1981 62680 16274 2337 50069 1991 98901 14525 4989 79387 2001 136254 21461 5769 109624 2011 152535 16567* 4781 131187 (Source : Census Data)

The number of cultivators as a proportion of total workers has decreased from 20.70% in 1961 to 10.9 % in 2011. On the other hand the number of ‘other’ workers has increase from 78.2% in 1961 to 86% in 2011, indicating the expansion of the Tertiary sector. It is this segment of workers whose need for land has not been catered for, resulting in encroachments.

Housing:

The massive influx of population after 1951 inevitably gave rise to a huge demand for housing, especially after 1981. However, the response of A & N Administration for providing house sites has not been adequate.

A total of 14,818 house sites were allotted in various Tehsils during 1961-1989 (484. 4743 hectare), with an average size of 327 Sq.mtr, as indicated below:-

Sl.No. Tehsil No. of house site allotted

Area in hects. Years of Allotment

1. Port Blair 6626 194.1686 1967-1986 2. Diglipur 988 21.505 1971-1986 3. Mayabunder 930 26.158 1971-1986 4. Rangat 1801 44.5227 1971-1998 5. Little

Andaman 942 67.4474 1971-1986

6. Campbell Bay 125 2.9829 1983-1989 7. Ferrargunj 3406 127.6899 1962-1986

Total 14818 484.4743 (Source: DC, South Andaman)

During the same period, the population increased from 63548 (16000 families) in 1961 to 380581 (96000 families) in 2011, resulting in a net increase of about 80,000 families, compared to which only 14,818 house site were distributed.

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The increased demand for house sites was demonstrated in 1994, when 33,637 applications were received in response to a public notice, against availability of about 6000 house sites (This allotment process could not be pursued for various reasons, including conversion of revenue land into deemed forest land, and was cancelled in 2004).

Assuming an average family size of 4, at least 65,000-70,000 house sites were required in A & N Islands in 2011. The focus of future policy must necessarily be to cater to this demand for housing, in the absence of which encroachments are inevitable. The failure of the A & N Administration to address the supply side of the problem has been a major reason for rampant encroachments in the Islands.

Census data for 2011 indicates that about 70-75% of the population resides in semi-permanent or temporary structures (excluding Port Blair and Campbell Bay, where permanent structures are predominant). This is partly due to lack of title, with little incentive to invest in pucca structures. Conferment of proper title is therefore key to upgrading the housing stock in A & N Islands.

The issues before the committee need to be viewed through this broader prism of acute land hunger compounded by acute land scarcity. These in fact are two sides of the same coin.

These issues have been documented and brought out by A & N Administration in IA 2784 filed before Hon’ble Supreme Court in 2010. The Committee is of the view that an early decision on the prayers in IA 2784 can set the ball rolling to resolve the imbroglio and logjam regarding encroachments which has prevailed in A & N Island for over three decades.

The problems and issues elaborated above have been compounded by weak administrative capacity in A & N Administration. The Committee believes that it is imperative to strengthen Revenue Administration, create an A & N Islands Planning and Development Authority for land use planning and development and integrate Revenue Administration and Land use Planning & Development under one umbrella (i.e.) Principal Secretary (Revenue) who should not be burdened with other charges. The post should also be re-designated as Principal Secretary (Lands). Recommendations in this regard have been made in section –F.

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1.1 Constitution of the Committee

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India constituted a Committee to examine and make recommendation on certain Land matters of A&N Islands vide order No: U-13018/1/2010/ANL dated 08/06/2017 with the following composition:

(i) Shri Vivek Rae, Ex-Chief Secretary, A & N Administration-

Chairman

(ii) Principal Secretary-Revenue, A & N Administration –

Convener

(iii) Principal Secretary-Finance, A & N Administration – Member

(iv) Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Andaman & Nicobar

Islands – Member

(v) Deputy Commissioner of the concerned District – Member

(vi) Representative of MHA not below the rank of Under

Secretary.

1.2 Terms of reference of the committee are as follow:-

a) Whether amount paid as compensation to the people/farmers,

whose land(s) were submerged during Tsunami-2004 should be

treated as a relief package and land surrendered in lieu thereof

to the government be returned to them;

b) Whether the amount paid as compensation to the farmers

whose land were submerged and land surrendered by them was

adequate;

c) Whether excess land occupied by post-1942 (but pre-1961)

settlers can and should be regularized and the modality thereof;

d) Examine the demand for regularization of encroachment of

revenue land by posts-1978 settlers and make

recommendations;

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e) Examine the demand for allotment of revenue land to post-1978

encroachers of forest land who have to be removed there from

on orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and make

recommendations;

f) Examine the need and efficacy of a bill for preventing future

encroachment of revenue and forests lands including stiff penal

provisions. Any regulation made earlier in respect of

encroachment of forest and revenue land may be taken into

account while examining the issue.

1.2 The committee has required to submit its recommendations on the

above issues within the period of six months for further

consideration.

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METHODOLOGY:-

The committee made three visits to the Islands for examining and

deliberating upon TORs.

A) FROM 6TH SEPT. 2017 TO 9TH SEPT. 2017

Field Inspection

a) On 06/09/2017 the Committee visited the submerged area of

Dollygunj, Bimblitan, Sippighat, Wimberlygunj & Stewartgunj

alongwith the Hon’ble MP A&N Islands. They also met with

General Public and heard their grievances.

Stewertgunj Village

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Dollygunj Village

Meeting President LBA

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Meeting Local Representatives at Sippighat

b) Committee held an open session public meeting at Dr. B.R.

Ambedkar Auditorium, PBMC which was attended by various

Associations like Local Borns Association (LBA), Bengal

Association of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (BAANI), Moplah

Association, PRI members, Leaders and General Public. The

Committee heard the submissions and suggestions of all present

to develop a better understanding of the issues. The Associations

and other groups submitted various representations which are

Annexed at X.

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Austin –II Village

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c) On 07/09/2017, the Committee visited Mayabunder with Hon’ble

MP & inspected Austin-II area. They held a meeting with General

Public & PRI Members of North & Middle Andaman District at the

Mayabunder Guest House. Various issues of Forest/Revenue

encroachment were heard and discussed.

d) Chairman called upon Hon’ble Lt. Governor and discussed the

mandate of the Committee.

e) A debriefing session was also held with Chief Secretary, A & N

Administration on 9th Sept. 2017.

B) FROM 15TH NOV. 2017 TO 22ND NOV.2017

a) The Committee had detailed deliberations on each TOR on 15th to

17th Nov. 2017 at DC (SA) Office.

b) On 20/11/2017 the Committee visited Campbell Bay alongwith

Hon’ble MP. A meeting with general public was organized at

ALHW Hall, Campbell Bay at 12:00 noon. It was attended by all

local HoO’s, Members, Tribal Council, PRI Members, Ex-

Serviceman Settlers and general public of the Campbell Bay Sub-

division.

The Committee also undertook field inspections of the

submerged land at Joginder Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Laxmi Nagar and

Gandhi Nagar villages of Campbell Bay Sub-Division under

Nicobar District.

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Field inspection (Campbell Bay)

Public hearing

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C) FROM 7TH DEC. 2017 TO 10TH DEC.2017

a) The Committee held internal meetings from 7th Dec. 2017 to 10th

Dec. 2017 to firm up the recommendations and finalize the report.

MAJOR ISSUES RAISED IN VARIOUS PUBLIC MEETINGS

Hon’ble MP (ANI) gave a brief about decisions taken in earlier IDA

meetings regarding the issue. He requested the Chairman to treat the

monetary amount paid in lieu of submergence of land as relief (not

compensation) and return the submerged land to the respective

owners. He suggested to make provisions for reclaiming the area under

submergence by constructing sluice gates.

Local Borns’ Association (LBA) demanded ownership of the land as it

exists in the mainland for the Islanders. They requested allotment of at

least 1.00 hect. of land to each member of Co-operative Society who

were given land in British period for plantation. Similarly, they further

requested for rehabilitation of early displaced Pre-42 settlers’ families of

old municipal villages of Port Blair town from whom recorded land

holdings were resumed without payment of compensation. They also

demanded fresh allotment to all bonafide Pre-42 families.

President, BJP submitted a representation demanding allotment of land

to the bonafide settlers and dependents of settlers’ family. He further

requested to settle the ex-situ Pre-1978 forest encroachers at their

original places of encroachment. He also appealed for regularization of

old encroachments, ownership for flats etc.

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Other representations received inter-alia covered the following points :-

Allotment of land to Pre-1978 forest encroachers.

Allotment of house sites to the off-springs of permanent

inhabitants of Pre-1942.

Implementation of inner-line permit.

Excess land regularization of all Pre-1961 cases.

Demand for settlement of left out Pre-1978 cases.

Strong and stiff law to stop encroachment.

Regularization of revenue encroachment prior to 2007.

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T E R M S O F R E F R E N C E : A & B

TERMS OF

REFERENCE

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2 . T E R M S O F R E F R E N C E : A & B

A. Whether amount paid as compensation to the people / farmers whose lands were submerged during tsunami-2004 should be treated as a relief package and land surrendered in lieu thereof to the government be returned to them

&

B. Whether the amount paid as compensation to the farmers whose lands were submerged and land surrendered by the them was adequate

2.1 BACKGROUND

On 26/12/2004 a severe earthquake of magnitude 9.3 on

the Richter scale jolted the entire Union Territory of Andaman &

Nicobar Islands, followed by Tsunami. The Tsunami hit the Island

very badly and big chunks of land in different places under the

district of Andaman (now South Andaman district) and Nicobar

District got submerged in the sea water.

Sippighat submergence patch (2006)

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Immediately after the devastation, a damage assessment

Committee was constituted by the Deputy Commissioner, Andaman

District vide order No. 1124 dated 07/01/2005 consisting of Patwari,

Junior Engineer APWD, Agriculture Demonstrator, Senior Veterinary

Compounder and Fisheries Inspector. The Committee visited the

affected areas and furnished the details of damage of houses,

household items and livestock etc. Accordingly, immediate ex-gratia

relief was paid. But no compensation for crop damage was paid at that

juncture.

Thereafter, survey teams were constituted to survey the

submerged land at Port Blair, Ferrargunj and Campbell Bay Tehsils.

The survey teams visited the submerged area in order to assess actual

submerged land and submit the report to the Assistant Commissioner

(Settlement). Tehsil wise details of submerged land is as under:-

Sl. No.

Name of Tehsil No. of villages

No. of families affected

Total area sub-merged (in HA.)

1 Port Blair 07 971 370 Hects.

2 Ferrargunj 35 1360 954 Hects.

3 Campbell Bay 06 329 605 Hects.

Total 48 2660 1929 Hects.

2.2. GOVERNMENT RELIEF PACKAGE

2.2.1 The A & N Administration vide order No. 631 dated 19.02.2005

approved to provide immediate financial assistance to the families

affected by Tsunami and authorized the Deputy Commissioner of

respective districts in Andaman & Nicobar Islands to incur expenditure

towards payment of ex-gratia relief as per CRF & NCCF

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norms/enhanced norms approved by Government of India as

mentioned in the table below:

S. No. Items Norms of expenditure 1. Ex-gratia Relief (a) Household articles for affected

families. Rs.10,000/- per family

(b) Temporary relief for affected families Rs.3,000/- per family (c) Relief to small business enterprises

run in residential premises. Rs.10,000/-per shopkeeper

2. Assistance to small and marginal farmers.

(i)For Agriculture crops/ Horticulture crops and annual plantation crops.

Rs.2000/- per hectare;

(ii) Perennial crops (plantation) Rs.4,000/- per hectare

3. Assistant to Artisans in handicraft sector by way of subsidy for repair/replacement of damaged equipments (for traditional crafts)

(i) For damaged equipments Rs.1,000/- (ii) For raw material Rs.1,000/-

The copy of the Order No 631 dated 19/02/2005 is placed at

Annexure –A1

2.2.2 The above order No.631 of A & N Administration was partially modified

vide order No. 773 dated 01.03.2005 (Annexure A2) sanctioning Ex-

gratia relief to eligible persons in agriculture as per CRF

norms/norms approved by the Govt. of India as under:-

Sl. No ITEM OD EXPENSITURE (Small

& Marginal farmers)

NORMS OF

EXPENDITURE

1. Assistance for reclamation of

agriculture land.

Rs.5000/- per hects.

2. Assistance for loss of

substantial portion of land.

Rs.10,000/- per hects.

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2.2.3 MHA approved an additional amount of Rs. 70.28 crore as

compensation for farmers in A & N islands for the loss of their

crops during Tsunami-2004 and sanctioned vide Administration

order No. 4065 dated 27.09.2005 (Annexure A3) as under:-

Sl. No

Crop Crop loss (area in

ha)

Rate of compensation

per ha (Rs.)

Total amount (Rs. in crore)

1. Loss of paddy/Vegetable/ Root Crop

4350 22,231 (24,231-2000)

9.67

2. Loss of Plantation Crops (Coconut/ Arecanut)

6700 90,465 (94465-4000)

60.61

Total 11050 - 70.28

2.2.4 A&N Administration disbursed the amount to various class of

beneficiaries who were affected due to Tsunami as under:-

Sl.No. Type of Ex-Gratia No. of cases

sanctioned

Actual amount

sanctioned

(Rs. In Lakhs)

No. of cases

disbursed

(Rs. In Lakhs)

Actual amount

disbursed

(Rs. In Lakhs)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

1 Identified Dead

Rs.1,00,000/-

425 425 424 424

2. Missing Persons

Rs. 1,00,000/-

2725 2724 2685 2688.50

3. Serious Injury Rs.5,000/-

113 5.65 95 4.75

4. LG Relief Fund Rs.2,000/-

19141 382.82 18323 366.54

5 House hold articles (max Rs.10,000/-)

19586

2013.30

18323

1918.38 6 Temporary Relief

Rs.3,000/-

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7. Relief to small business Rs.10,000

(a) Residential area 949 63.27 937 63.15

(b) Non-Residential area 2070 106.47 1989 105.61

8. (a)Loss of paddy/veg/root crop@2000/hect

(b)Loss of plantation crop (Coconut/arecanut @4000/hects)

11396

777.86

11345

774.47 9. Reclamation of land (per

hect.Rs.5000/-)

10. Agriculture/permanently submerged land per hect Rs.10,000/-)

11. Loss of paddy/vegetable/root crops/plantation crops (Special package of MHA)

7776 5817.69 7601 5730.78

12. Revised Agriculture amount.

46 19.40 41 17.37

13. Orphans Agriculture amount

170 340 170 340

14. Windows Rs.1,00,000/- 207 207 205 205

15. Unmarried girls Rs.1,00,000/-

36 36 36 36

16. Fully damaged house (Pucca) Rs.10,000/-

701 70.10 576 57.60

17. Fully damaged house (Katcha) Rs.6,000/-

423 25.38 400 24.00

18. Severely & Marginally damaged house

48275 965.50 44804 896.08

19. Lok Adalat held at Campbell Bay

57 3.92 56 3.90

Total 114096 13983.38 108010 13656.10

Copy of the above detail is given at Annexure – A4

2.2.5 The people/farmers who were rendered homeless on account of

submergence of their land and whose houses were washed away,

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were shifted immediately to relief camps and subsequently to

“intermediate” shelters constructed by the Andaman & Nicobar

Administration. In the intermediate shelter the people/farmers were

provided free ration till they were rehabilitated in “permanent”

shelters. Total 9797 Nos. permanent shelters were constructed in

Andaman & Nicobar Islands and allotted to the victims.

2.3 STATUS OF RELIEF AND COMPENSATION

2.3.1 During July 2007 a portion of submerged land measuring 133.4521

hectare under village Sippighat & Bimblitan belonging to 499

affected tenants/ cases were notified for emergency acquisition

under Land Acquisition Act, 1894 under section 4(1), 4(2), 7 and

17(4) for construction of sweet water lake. However the same could

not be processed for want of clarification as to whether the payment

of market value is admissible in respect of land which is submerged.

Hence, no further action in the matter of acquisition was taken.

2.3.2 Out of total notified persons, 25 tenants filed writ petitions before

the Hon’ble High Court during the year 2009 with the prayer that

the land should be acquired as per the Notification issued by the

Administration. The Hon’ble High Court directed the Collector Land

Acquisition (CLA) to conclude the acquisition proceedings within six

months.

2.3.3 The A & N Administration preferred an appeal before the Division

Bench of Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta against the order passed

by the single bench. The Division Bench set aside the order passed

by the single bench on the ground that no opportunity was given by

the single bench to the respondent authority and remanded back

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the case to re-hear the writ petition after giving opportunity to A&N

Administration to file Affidavit-in-opposition (AIO).

2.3.4 The Single Bench of the Hon’ble High Court disposed off the writ

petition on 03.02.2011 directing the A&N Administration to

complete the acquisition proceedings within a period of four

months. Being aggrieved with the order, the A&N Administration

moved an Appeal before the Hon’ble Division Bench. The Hon’ble

Division Bench heard the matter on 14.09.2011 and dismissed the

appeal by upholding the order of Hon’ble Ld. Single Bench. The

Administration filed SLPs (civil) 31051 and 20184 of 2012 before

the Hon’ble Apex Court which is still under adjudication.

2.3.5 Meanwhile the acquiring agency APWD, A & N Administration has

shelved the project and intimated the district administration that

there is no need to acquire the land for the project.

2.3.6 Out of notified area 125 persons have taken compensation by

surrendering their land measuring an area of 65.0519 hectare

(against total notified private land measuring an area of 133.4521

hectare) to Govt. in terms of MHA order U-13018/1/2010-ANL

dated 30/07/2012 regarding the compensation for submerged land

@ 9.39 Lakhs.

2.3.7 The Administration has been trying for a long time to allot

alternative land to all the affected land holders / farmers in lieu of

their land submerged due to Tsunami. However, thus could not be

materialize due to the non availability of revenue land to that extent

in the South Andaman District. The only remedy was to get the

land de-reserved out of forest land. To get the required quantum of

26 | P a g e


land, an area of 2700 hectare of forest land needed to be

de-reserved. A & N Administration filed an I.A. vide No. 2343 dated

17.07.2008 before the Hon’ble Apex Court seeking permission for

diversion. (Copy of IA marked as Annexure-A5).

2.3.8 The Hon’ble Apex Court referred the matter to the Central

Empowered Committee (CEC). The Central Empowered Committee

visited the Islands in March 2010 and recommended to the A & N

Administration to re-work its requirement of land.

2.3.9 In terms of the above direction of Central Empowered Committee,

the Deputy Commissioner, South Andaman district re-worked the

matter and reduced the area proposed for common facilities. Thus,

the figure of 2700 hectares got reduced to 1525.25 hectares. The

same was communicated to the Chairman, Central Empowered

Committee vide letter No.7-12/ACS/CIC/2008/PF/2472 dated

16/04/2010. Copy of letter is marked as Annexure-A6.

2.3.10 The Central Empowered Committee submitted its final report to

Hon’ble Apex Court on 21/09/2010 wherein Central Empowered

Committee recommended not to accept the proposal of

Administration for use of natural forest land for allotment to

Tsunami affected person as the same involved the felling of 10

lakhs trees which would be an ecological disaster. Copy of CEC

report dated 21/09/2010 is marked as Annexure-A7. The matter is

still pending with Hon’ble Supreme Court for final decesion.

2.3.11 In the meantime, on account of non-payment of compensation in

lieu of submerged land, the farmers who had lost their livelihood

27 | P a g e


for over 06 years launched a peaceful agitation/hunger strike. This

was intimated vide letter dated 04/01/2010 by the President Gram

Sudhar Sangham of South Andaman. (Copy of letter marked as

Annexure- A8).

2.3.12 The Deputy Commissioner, South Andaman vide Letter no 21-

58/TSU/LR/2005/PF-II/481 dated 30/01/2010 intimated the

President Gram Sudhar Sangham regarding various steps being

taken for the redressal of their grievances.(copy of letter is marked

as Annexure-A9).

2.3.13 In this regard a meeting was held with Officers of A&N

Administration on 06/02/2010 at Secretariat Conference Hall

under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary with the members of

Gram Sudhar Sangham who were on relay hunger strike. (Copy of

the minutes of meeting is place the Annexure-A10).

2.3.14 The Chief Secretary A&N Administration, vide letter no 21-

58/TSU/LR/2008 dated 19/02/2010 assured the President Gram,

Sudhar Sangam that a suitable relief package would be given to the

tsunami affected farmers. (Copy of letter is placed at the Annexure-

A11).

2.3.15 The Principal Secretary (Rev), A & N Administration vide letter No

21-58/TSU/LR/2005/PF-II dated 20/09/10 submitted a proposal

before the Secretary to GOI, MHA regarding payment of Net

Present Value (NPV) @ Rs.9,39,000/- per hectare which could be

offered to Tsunami affected farmers in lieu of submerged land.

(Copy of letter is place at the Annexure-A12).

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2.3.16 The Hon’ble Lt. Governor wrote a D.O. letter vide No 21-

58/TSU/LR/2005/PF-II dated 04/06/2010 & No.21-

58/TSU/LR/2005/PF-II dated 28/09/2010 to the Hon’ble Home

Minister for early release of compensation to affected farmers.

(Copy of letter is placed at the Annexure-A13).

2.3.17 In the 13th meeting of the Island Development Authority (IDA) held

on 15th June 2011 under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister,

it was decided that the Andaman & Nicobar Administration will

send a comprehensive proposal to the Ministry of Environment and

Forest spelling out the non- availability of revenue land and de-

graded forest land and therefore, the need for providing alternative

forest land for distribution to the victims of Tsunami whose land

had been permanently submerged under sea water. It was decided

that Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) would place the

matter before the relevant Committee/Authority in the Ministry for

favorable consideration. The IDA further decided that in the event

of failure to obtain a favorable decision from the Ministry of

Environment and Forest and pending decision of the Hon’ble Apex

Court, “the A & N Administration will provide an option to the victims

of tsunami, whose land has been permanently submerged under the

sea water, to accept monetary compensation in lieu of the submerged

land. The compensation amount was directed to be reworked on the

basis of the extent rules/guidelines and the market value of land in

location adjacent to the submerged land parcel.” (Copy of the

minutes of IDA meeting is place the Annexure-A14).

2.3.18 In a coordination meeting held in the Chamber of Chief Secretary,

A & N Administration on 28/06/11 and subsequent meeting held

29 | P a g e


at Raj Niwas on 29/06/11 it was decided to obtain specific

consent/undertaking from the affected farmers/tenants whether

they would opt for alternative land or monetary compensation in

lieu of their submerged land. As such the District Administration

undertook an exercise for obtaining specific options/undertakings

from the Tsunami affected farmers whose land was submerged

permanently, so as to finalise the payment of compensation. The

submerged land was re-verified by the Tehsildars and the initial

submerged area was found to be reduced on account of land

reclamation. Details are as under:-

Copy of field report from Tehsildar is marked as Annexure A15.

2.3.19 In view of the details given in the table above, total fund

requirement for the compensation was worked out and submitted

MHA as follows:

Sl. No

Particulars Amount (in Rs.)/Area No. of cases/ beneficiaries involved

1 Total land found submerged

916.217 Hects. (S/A) + 328.2715 (C/Bay) = 1244.4942

2347 + 286 cases = 2633 cases

2 Total land required for alternative allotment

107.261 hectrs. 1053 beneficiaries

3 Undertaking received for cash compensation

Rs. 37.24 Crores Area 396.66 hectare

795 beneficiaries (approx)

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I

n

this regard, the copy of report dated 06/09/2011 sent by Administration

is placed at Annexure-A16.

2.3.20 In compliance with the decision taken in 13th IDA meeting, A & N

Administration wrote a letter bearing No.37-83/2010-Rev dated

02/11/2011 to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forest,

GOI explaining the need for 1229.6 hectare of forest land which

required to be de-reserved for allotment of alternative land in lieu of

submerged land. (Copy of letter is placed at the Annexure-A17).

2.3.21 In further compliance with the decision taken in 13th IDA meeting,

a detailed assessment was made in respect of submerged land

taking into consideration the prevailing market value of land in

surrounding locations. The Assistant Commissioner (R&DM) had

Sl.No Particulars Total submerged land involved

Amount (in Rs.)/Area

1 Cash compensation for the farmers/tenants who exclusively filed their options for the same.

396.66 hectare 37.24 crores.

2 Cash compensation proposed also to those farmers/tenants who did not turn up for filing their options/undertakings or declined or where the land is under dispute.

412.296 38.72 crores

Total Amount involved for cash compensation

808.956 (S/A) + 328.2715 (C/Bay) =1137.2297

75.96

Alternative land to those persons who exclusively opted for the same

107.2645

Total 916.217 (S/A) + 328.2715 (C/Bay) = 1244.4942

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assessed the market value of interest of land in location adjacent to

submerged land and furnished a requirement of

Rs.245,75,14,500/- (Rupees Two Hundred Forty Five Crores

Seventy Five Lakhs Fourteen Thousand Five Hundred Only) for

making payment as per market value. (Letter No.37-83/2010-Rev

dated 02/11/2011 received from A & N Administration & requisite

report vide note F.No.129-3/(LA)/AC(R&DM)/2011/129 dated

15/12/2011 is placed at the Annexure- A18 & A19 respectively).

2.3.22 The A&N Administration vide letter no 37-83/2012/Rev. dated

25/04/2012 addressed to the Joint Secretary(UT), GOI, MHA,

forwarded Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) memo for

payment of compensation to Tsunami affected farmers in lieu of

their submerged land. (Copy of letter is placed at the Annexure-

A20). The EFC memo commented that “since the land is submerged

under water there are practical problem associated with the

estimation of value of interest in the land. Further, the value of

permanent loss of interest in the submerged land arrived at is at best

guess estimated rather than the value of interest in the actual

submerged land. Hence instead of assessing the present actual

market value of the submerged land, the lower conservative figure (of

9.39 Lakh per hects.) has been adopted as the rate for

compensation. A uniform rate will also help avoid litigation that may

arise out of variable market rate for various parcel of land”.

2.3.23 Planning Commission (Project Appraisal and Management

Division) vide letter No. N-14072/23/2012-PAMD dated

24/05/2012 submitted the appraisal note to Deputy Secretary

MHA regarding the EFC memo submitted by A & N Administration.

In the note the Planning Commission endorsed the proposal of A&N

32 | P a g e


Administration stating that “the proposal for making payment of

cash compensation to the 4000 affected person amounting to Rs.

106.73 crore of submerged area of 1136.64 hects. at the rate Rs.

9.39 lakhs per hects. (NPV for forest area) is justified and may be

supported”. (Copy of the note is placed at the Annexure-A21).

2.3.24 The proposal of A & N Administration was approved by the

Ministry of Home Affairs and communicated vide letter bearing

F.No. U-13018/1/2010-ANL dated 30/07/2012 by the Director

(ANL), MHA, New Delhi, subject to following conditions:-

1. The payment will be made @ Rs. 9,39,000/- per hectare in

respect of 1136.44 hectares of submerged land for which specific

option from their owners have been received by the UT

Administration for payment of compensation in cash in lieu of

the submerged land.

2. The payment of compensation will be made by the UT

Administration only after ensuring availability of funds through

Supplementary Grants proposal for which it is stated to have

been made, as noted by EFC in Para 11 (iii) of the minutes of its

meeting held on 27/06/2012.

Before making compensation, UT Administration will further ensure that:

(i) The beneficiaries who get compensation in lieu of submerged

land, surrender the land for which compensation is paid and;

(ii) The persons who have claimed compensation have not

encroached any Government/Forest land in any of the islands

under the A & N Islands.

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(Copy of the letter from MHA is placed at Annexure-A22).

2.3.25 Hon’ble MP vide letter dated 31/08/2012 addressed to Hon’ble MOS

Home, informed that the rate of compensation is inadequate and the

condition imposed therein for surrender of land is not genuine. Also

there is discontent amongst the farmers about the decision of

government. (Copy of letter is placed at Annexure-A23).

2.3.26 Current status of Disbursement of cash compensation.

In pursuance of the order No U-13018/1/2010-ANL dated

30/07/2012 of GOI, MHA, compensation in lieu of submerged land

disbursed till date is as below:

South Andaman District

Sl. No

Total submerged

area (in hect.)

Area opted for cash

compensation

No. of affected farmers/ tenants whose

compensation has already

been disbursed

Area involved in lieu of which compensation

has already been disbursed

(area surrendered)

( in Ha)

Total amount disbursed

(Rs. Lakhs)

Balance area

involved for

disbursement of cash

compensation

Balance amount

involved for disbursement (Rs. Lakhs)

1 916.217 808.956 1158 432.94784 4065.38 376.00816 3493.11

Nicobar District

Sl.No

Total Cases of

submerged land

Total affected area

(in hect.)

Area surrendered in lieu of

compensation already taken

( in Ha)

Total amount of compensation

disbursed (Rs. Lakhs)

Area remained for

disbursement of cash

compensation

Amount to be disbursed (Rs.

Lakhs)

1 286 328.2715 262.5716 2465.54 65.70 6169.22

2.3.27 An area of 695.5194 Hectares has been surrendered in lieu of

monetary compensation of Rs. 65,30,92,754/- (Rupees Sixty-Five

Crore Thirty Lakhs Ninety-Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-

Four only) in both the districts.

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2.3.28 Out of the surrendered land, an area of 42.5317 hectares was

allotted to the Electricity Department at Mithakhari village in 2015

for Solar Power plant.

2.3.29 RECOMMENDATION OF TOR A & B

As per the direction of 13th IDA meeting the compensation amount to

be given has to be revalued on the basis of market value of land in locations adjacent to submerged land parcel. Subsequently AC, R&DM had assessed the market value in South Andaman District as Rs. 245.7 Crore in the year 2011 and the same was communicated to the administration. No such amount could be made for Campbell Bay since there were very few land transactions between 2004-2011

The EFC memo had considered the market value worked out by AC (R&DM) and commented that ‘the value of permanent loss of interest in the submerged land arrived at is at best guess estimated rather than the value of interest in the actual submerged land’.

Therefore, instead of market value, EFC memo had recommended the NPV fixed by the apex court for ecological class of forest i.e. Rs. 9.39 Lakh per hect. as compensation in lieu of submerged land for the affected person. The same was agreed to by Planning Commission and approved by the MHA.

2.3.30 As far as the adequacy of the compensation is concerned, we

need to look into the class character usability of the submerged land.

There are three major patches of submergence in South Andaman District i.e.

1) Sippighat Patch- Consisting of revenue village a) Sippighat,

b)Bimblitan, c) Teylorabad, d) Dollygunj, e) Garacharma.

35 | P a g e


2) Stewartgunj Patch – Consisting of revenue village a) Wimberlygunj, b) Kadakachang, c) Govindapuram, d) Kanyapuram, e) Shore Point, f) Bambooflat.

3) Mithakhari Patch - Consisting of revenue village a) Mithakhari, b) Namnunaghar, c) Ograbraj, d) Badmashpahar, e) Chouldhari.

36 | P a g e


Out of above, patches of Sippighat and Stewartgunj were under paddy

cultivation barring some house sites.

The Agriculture department has worked out the average yield per

ha of paddy as 3 MT. Taking the minimum support price for paddy as

Rs. 15,500/- per MT, the average annual income per ha of paddy

works out to Rs. 46,500/-.Report at Annexed A24

The net present value (NPV) at 10% discount rate for a period

of 99 years, considering the paddy income as mentioned above i.e. Rs.

46,500/- per ha, comes to Rs. 4.65 Lakh per ha.

For Mithakhari patch, the submerged land was being used

predominantly for vegetable cultivation prior to Tsunami. Agriculture

Department estimates the annual returns from vegetable cultivation

as follows:-

Average Production : 4 - 5 MT per hect. per annum

37 | P a g e


Sale price : Rs. 30- 40 /kg.

Average annual income per hectare comes to around Rs. 2 lakhs

NPV at 10% discount rate for a period of 99 years at the annual income

flow of Rs. 2 lakh per ha comes to Rs. 19.998 lakh per ha

Therefore, if we presume that the submerged land would have been

used for 99 years only for agricultural purposes, the estimated return

for paddy (Rs. 4.65 Lakhs per ha) is low compared to the compensation

paid @ 9.39 Lakhs per ha.

For the Mithakhari patch (primarily vegetable growing), the NPV comes

to Rs. 19.998/- Lakh per ha. The compensation paid for this patch is

almost half of the estimated return.

Campbell Bay as whole can be treated as a single patch, since

agriculture land in all the seven villages has predominantly been under

plantation, mostly Coconut.

For a meagre portion of land under paddy cultivation, the Agriculture

department has worked out the estimated return as:

Average yield per hectare: 2.55 MT per hect. Minimum support price for paddy: Rs. 15,500/- per MT Average annual income per hectare comes out to be around Rs. 39,525/-.

The net present value (NPV) at 10% discount rate for a period of 99

years for the annual income from paddy cultivation @ Rs. 39,525/- per

hect. comes out to be Rs. 3.96 Lakh per hectare.

38 | P a g e


For land under Plantations, mostly Coconut, supplemented by

production of Spices and fruits mainly Banana, the agriculture

department has estimated the return as Rs. 1,90,000/- to Rs.

2,15,000/- per ha.

Hence NPV calculated at 10% discount rate for a period of 99 years for

annual income flow of Rs. 2,15,000/- comes to Rs. 21.5 Lakhs per

hectare, which is broadly comparable with South Andaman

District.

Moreover, as per the current estimates of the Agricultural Department,

out of total 1324.53 Ha of paddy land in Campbell Bay only 1.0 ha has

been reported for cultivation under paddy and 30 ha is under Arecanut

cultivation. Most of the land is under plantations, predominantly

Coconut augmented by spices and banana. The pattern was more or

less same prior to Tsunami 2004. Hence, it is logical that compensation

paid be calculated as per accrued income from Coconut plantation

(augmented by Spices and Banana) i.e. @ Rs. 2.15 lakhs per ha per

annum.

Therefore, if we presume that the agriculture land would have been

used for a period of 99 years mainly for plantations, the estimated

return for the same would have been Rs. 21.5 lakhs per ha.

The compensation that was paid was @ 9.39 lakhs per ha, was much

below the current estimation by the Committee.

On the other hand, because of location of submerged patches and lack of

tourism in Campbell and hence less opportunity cost of land on account of

limited alternative uses of the same (as of now), the land prices have

remained stagnant since Tsunami 2004.

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The current market value of the land could not be correctly ascertained on

account of a very limited number of land transactions in the past. With the

limited data available the current valuation of the land as per the Revenue

department is to the tune of Rs. 3.7 lakhs per hectare for all the seven

villages. The use value as plantation is much higher.

As far as Port Blair is concerned, keeping in view the location of

submerged patches, the development pressure of Port Blair city and, the

recent efforts by owners of the submerged land to develop the land for

residential/commercial purposes, it is evident that the preferred use of some

submerged land will be for residential and commercial purpose. This is

further supported by the fact that the adjacent land prices have increased by

5 to 6 times since Tsunami 2004.

The average current valuation (2017) of paddy /agriculture land of the above

three patches is as follows:-

As depicted above, the compensation paid compared to the current

valuation in South Andaman District is very meagre. Hence, there is

a case for providing the market value of the submerged land to

the recorded owners as recommended by the 13th IDA Meeting.

Submerged patch

Average Value per ha

Sippighat Rs. 1320/- per sq.mtrs. Rs. 1,32,00,000/- per ha

Stewartgunj Rs. 288/- per sq.mtrs. Rs. 28,80,000/- per ha

Mithakhari Rs. 366/- per sq.mtrs. Rs. 36,60,000/- per ha

40 | P a g e


The committee is also of the view that the recorded owners who

have surrendered their submerged land in lieu of compensation do

not have any legal entitlement over the land. Their interest over the

land has extinguished as per section 162(b) of the A & N Island Land

Revenue and Land Reforms Regulation, 1966 when the land was

surrendered under section 153 of LR & LRR. Further, the amount of

Rs. 9.39 lakh per hectare was paid as compensation for submerged

land and not as relief. It would not be appropriate to treat the

compensation as relief at this stage. It would be more appropriate to

pay additional compensation, based on market value of land.

Aggregate 2012 Market Value of submerged land (Calculated on the

basis of year 2012 Market Value of the adjacent land) under South

Andaman and Nicobar District is:

Port Blair Tehsil Rs. 59.21 Crore

Ferrargunj Tehsil Rs. 186.54 Crore

Campbell Bay Tehsil Rs. 32.20 Crore

Grand Total Rs. 277.95 Crore

For calculation of current market value of the submerged land,

simple interest at the rate of 12% per annum for the last 5 years can

be added to the year 2012 market prices (as is done in land

acquisition cases).

Simple interest (@ 12% for 5 years) = Rs 166.77 Crore

Current market value of the submerged land = 444.72 Crore

Proposed compensation per ha = 444.72/1244.4942

= Rs 35.73 lakh per ha

Calculation sheet is at Annexure A25

2.3.31After considering various options, the Committee recommends payment

of enhanced compensation @ Rs. 35.73 Lakhs per hectare, with all

41 | P a g e


submerged land to be surrendered to Govt. The Committee is

recommending a uniform rate of compensation, instead of different

rates for different locations, keeping in view that they earlier

compensation of Rs. 9.89 Lakhs per hectare was also uniform.

2.3.32 Regarding Campbell Bay the Committee is of the view that the

economy of Campbell Bay needs to be revived and for this it is

recommended that WAPCOS study may be conducted as it was done

earlier for Port Blair, to identify areas where sluice gates, bunds and

dams should be constructed to reclaim the submerged land, A& N

Administration may consider utilizing the submerged land for various

uses, after it is reclaimed.

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TERMS OF REFERNCE: C

3. TERMS OF REFERNCE (C)

Whether excess land occupied by post-1942 (but pre-1961) settlers

can and should be regularized and the modality thereof;

3.1 BACKGROUND

3.1.1 The inhabitants of A& N Islands have traditionally been dependant on

land for subsistence and existence. The British Government had adopted

a policy for settlement in the Islands whereby the convicts undergoing

imprisonment in the Islands were given option to settle down in these

Islands after completing their term of punishment. This land allotment

policy of the British is known as the Penal Settlement Policy and under

the same, land for homestead and agriculture was allotted to habitants

before Independence. After Independence, large number of families had

also been settled under the Colonization and Rehabilitation Scheme in

various parts of A & N Islands.

3.2 PRE-1942 STATUS

3.2.1 The first penal settlement commenced in these Islands prior to 1920

whereby land was given to the convicts who were released from captivity

after completing their term and willing to settle in these Islands. The first

Land Regulation ‘The Andaman Nicobar Island Land Tenure Regulation

1926’ came into the effect from 10th February, 1926. Under this

Regulation the revenue records were prepared in Urdu script with the

land unit as Acre, Kanal and Marlas. This was done after a proper

survey.

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3.2.2 In order to replace the old revenue records prepared during 1926-1929 in

Urdu script, a second survey operation started in 1958. After the field

survey, Provisional Khasra Register and Milan Khatuni Register were

prepared. The entire area under the occupation of the old recorded

tenants found during the survey operation of 1961 was entered in the

Provisional khasra Register which includes their recorded land as well as

excess area. The Milan Khatuni Register of 1961 includes total area

found under the occupation of the occupant/old recorded tenant. The

Milan Khatuni further includes the details of old recorded land

separately and the difference of recorded land and area under occupation

is excess area. However, the revenue records of Haddo, Buniyadabad,

Junglighat, Phoenix Bay, Aberdeen, Aberdeen village, South Point and

Shadipur under old Municipal limit of Port Blair were not finalized.

3.2.3 Andaman & Nicobar Administration took initiative to settle the issue of

excess area and to finalize the revenue records. The Chief Commissioner

vide memorandum No.111-5/65-G dated 07/09/1966 ordered that “in

pursuance of the decision of the Chief Commissioner Advisory Committee

Meeting held on 28th May, 1966 encroachment upto 31st December, 1961

are to be accepted and regularized.” The Chief Commissioner further

ordered that “encroachments thereafter i.e., (after 31st December 1961)

has to be dealt with in accordance with law.” Copy of the Memorandum

together with proceedings of the special meeting of the Chief

Commissioner’s Advisory Committee dated 28th May’1965 is

annexed hereto and marked as Annexure ‘C-1’.

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3.2.4 The Survey operation started again in 1978-79 in respect of the above

said eight villages of old municipal area with reference to 1961 survey

record in order to verify the ground reality, so as to finalize the revenue

records under the provisions of the A & N Islands Land Revenue and

Reforms Regulation 1966. But again it could not be finalised.

3.2.5 The Hon’ble Member of Parliament Shri Bishnu Pada Ray vide letter

No.22(6)/MP/ANI/2002 dated 11/11/2002 requested the Hon’ble Lt.

Governor A & N Islands Port Blair to finalize the revenue records of old

Port Blair Municipal area following the records prepared in 1961 Survey

and Settlement operation. The Hon’ble Member of Parliament quoted in

his letter the reference of memorandum bearing No.111-5/66-G dated

07/09/1966 vide which the Chief Commissioner ordered that the

encroachment upto 31/12/1961 are to be accepted and regularized and

the encroachment thereafter have to be dealt with in accordance with

law. He further quoted that the Home Minister advisory committee in its

meeting held on 30/11/1974, after review of the issue had taken a

decision that all cases of encroachment prior to 1961 should be

regularized quickly. Copy of the said letter of the Hon’ble Member of

Parliament Shri Bishnu Pada Ray together with summary record of

proceeding of Home Minister Advisory Committee is annexed hereto and

marked as ‘C-2’.

3.2.6 In pursuance of the letter of the Hon’ble Member of Parliament the

District Administration furnished a proposal to the A & N Administration

in this regard. The A & N Administration vide DO letter No.

Sett/35/2002(PF) dated 01/03/2003, submitted the proposal to the

Joint Secretary (UT) Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. Copy of

letter together with the proposal is annexed hereto and marked as ‘C-3’

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3.2.7 The Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India vide letter No.U-

13034/20/2003-ANL dated 15/07/2003 informed the Chief Secretary, A

& N Administration, that “in pursuance of the announcement made by the

Hon’ble Prime Minister during his visit to A & N Islands in January, 2003,

the matter regarding regularization of the excess land in possession of the

pre-1942 settlers within the Port Blair Municipal Area has been considered

by the Government and it has been decided that the excess land of the

Port Blair Municipal Area which was in possession of the pre-1942 settlers

upto the year 1961, as identified in the survey undertaken by the A &N

Administration in 1961, might be regularized without levy of any premium.

The regularization will be subject to the following conditions:

(i) The excess land will be regularized only to the extent that the

concerned occupants and their descendents have maintained

their continued possession till date.

(ii) A & N Administration will carry out a survey to identify the Pre-1942

settlers/their descendents and the exact area of excess land in

their possession upto 1961.”

Copy of the letter of Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs dated

15/07/2003 as annexed hereto and marked as ‘C-4’.

3.2.8 In order to implement the approval accorded by the Ministry of Home

Affairs, field survey was conducted once again to identify Pre-1942

settlers/their descendents with exact area of excess land in their

possession upto 1961. The detailed survey report was prepared and

46 | P a g e


approval of the competent authority was taken. The details of action

taken is as follows:-

Sl.

No.

Subject Total

cases

Area (in

hectare)

1.

Total no. of pre- 1942 cases of

Pre-1961 excess area qualified

and issued licences

445

23.10

2. Dispute/court cases in respect

of title/inheritance

06

0.31

3. Recorded Tenant does not have

excess land 66 Nil

4.

Excess land held by post-1942

recorded tenant not covered

under the approval of GOI.

197 17.7432

5.

Purchased land from pre-

1942/post 1942 tenants not

covered under approval of MHA,

GOI.

396 13.1512

6. Land resumed by government 57 --

Copy of relevant documents placed at Annexure – ‘C-5 to C-7’.

3.2.9 RECOMMENDATION

The records of all the existing villages other than Old Municipal limit

which includes villages of Haddo, Buniyadabad, Junglighat, Phoenix

Bay, Aberdeen, Aberdeen village, South Point and Shadipur were

finalized in the revenue survey of 1961.

47 | P a g e


Most of the recorded tenants of these eight left out villages are in

continuous possession of the excess area for the last 56 years by

constructing the buildings for residential/commercial purposes.

The decision of the Chief Commissioner for regularization of land

was communicated vide memorandum No.111-5/65-G dated

07/09/1966 stating that “in pursuance of the decision of the

Chief Commissioner Advisory Committee meeting held on 28th

May, 1966, encroachment upto 31st December, 1961 are to be

accepted and regularized.” Further vide this order, it is also

emphasized that “encroachments thereafter i.e., (after 31st December

1961) has to be dealt with in accordance with law.

The above direction of Chief Commissioner was actually applicable

only for the eight left out municipal villages as the revenue records

of other existing villages had already been finalized in 1961, before

this order came.

The ground reality is that in these eight old villages, now municipal

wards, most of the recorded owners are in excess possession of land

for more than 50 years. They have developed the land and

constructed residential/commercial establishments over their excess

area. There has been a constant demand from these

owners/occupants for land regularization as per the 1966 Chief

Commissioner’s circular.

48 | P a g e


In the 10th IDA meeting 2003, the land allotment to pre and post-

1942 settlers was discussed, but no decision was taken in this

regard.

Thereafter, a proposal was sent by Commissioner-cum-Secretary,

Revenue to the Ministry of Home Affairs vide D.O. letter No.

Sett/35/2002/35/2002(PF), dt. 01st March, 2003 for “seeking

approval for regularization of excess land of pre-1961 occupants”.

The MHA gave approval for regularization of excess land for Pre-

1961 occupants vide letter No.U-13043/20/2003/ANL, dt.

15/07/2003 which is, “the excess land of the Port Blair Municipal

Area which was in possession of the pre-1942 settlers upto the year

1961, as identified in the survey undertaken by the A&N

Administration in 1961, might be regularized without levy of any

premium”. For regularization of the excess land the condition of

occupants being pre-1942 was added.

It is important to emphasize that the pre-1942 criteria did not find

any mention either in the IDA minutes or in the proposal sent by the

A & N Administration.

Since the MHA directive included pre-1942 criteria, only the excess

land of pre-1942 recorded owners/occupants was regularized. It

implied that, if a person was having an excess possession as per the

Milan Khatuni of 1961 but was not a pre-1942 settler, his case was

not to be considered for regularization of excess area under the

scheme.

49 | P a g e


There are about 197 such cases of pre-1961 occupants who were

not pre-1942, occupying an area of 17.74 ha whose cases were not

considered.

The Committee is not aware of the basis on which the pre-1942

criteria was incorporated by MHA. The Committee recommends that

the Pre-1942 criteria should be removed from the 2003 scheme of

excess land regularization of pre-1961 occupants.

All the excess land in occupation of pre-1961 occupants as found in

the 1961 survey should be regularized without any premium subject

to the condition that, “the excess land will be regularized to the

extent occupants and their descendants have maintained their

continuous possession of pre-1961 excess area till date”.

This will facilitate the streamlining of the revenue records of the

eight Municipal villages which has not been finalized since 1961.

50 | P a g e TERMS OF REFERNCE : D

TERMS OF REFERNCE (D)

Examine the demand for regularization of encroachment of

revenue land by posts-1978 settlers and make recommendations;

4 BACKGROUND

1. During the early settlement there was no encroachment on government land

as there was a plenty of land available. As more and more people started

migrating to these Islands, especially laborers from the mainland, there was

a lack of housing facilities for them and they started encroaching

government lands by constructing hutments and plantations.

2. The first Land Regulation namely “Land Tenure Regulation 1926” came into

the effect on 10.02.1926. The land records were prepared in 1926-29 in

Urdu script with the land unit as acre, kanal and marlas.

3. With the passage of time some discrepancies were observed in the old

records which were contradictory to actual physical possession of the

allottees. In order to update the old revenue records the Survey and

Settlement Department was established in 1958. The survey operation

commenced thereafter and records were finalized. Subsequent to the Survey

operation the excess area/encroachment till 1961 was settled and records

finalized except for eight villages of Old Municipal area viz. Aberdeen village,

Aberdeen Bazaar, Haddo, Buniyadabad, Phoenix Bay, Junglighat, South

Point and Shadipur villages.

4.1 EARLIER COMMITTEES ON THE ISSUE OF ENCROACHMENT ON REVENUE

LAND AND THEIR REPORTS.


1. On the recommendation of the Chief Commissioner Advisory Committee

meeting held on 28th May, 1966, the Chief Commissioner vide

memorandum No.111-5/65-G dated 07/09/1966 ordered that

encroachment upto 31st December, 1961 are to be accepted and

regularized. The Chief Commissioner further ordered that encroachments

thereafter i.e., (after 31st December 1961) has to be dealt with in

accordance with law. Copy of the Memorandum together with

proceedings of the special meeting of the Chief Commissioner’s Advisory

Committee dated 28th May, 1965 is annexed hereto and marked as

Annexure ‘C1’.

2. During the year 1966, the old regulation “The Land Tenure Regulation

1926” was repealed by the new regulation namely “The Andaman and

Nicobar Islands Land Revenue and Land Reforms Regulation 1966”.

The Revenue Administration initiated action to remove the

encroachments under section 202 of the new regulation, 1966. However,

section 202 sub-section (8) states that:

“If notice of an intention to institute a suit is delivered to the

Tehsildar, he shall desist from carrying out his order (for

encroachment removal) under sub-section (1) for a period of 3

months and if such suit is filed within a such period of 3 months he

shall stay his proceedings pending the decision of the Civil Court”.

Disposal from the Civil Court took many years, blocking the whole

encroachment removal process. This created a major hurdle in

removal of encroachment by the revenue department.

3. Another hurdle in removal of encroachments has been political pressure

for instance 09 encroachers of Nayagaon village, Port Blair were issued

show cause notices to appear before the Tehsildar court. This was


vehemently opposed by the then Member of Parliament Shri Manoranjan

Bhakta.

4. Thereafter, the then Member of Parliament, Shri Manoranjan Bhakta had

taken up the issue of above encroachers along with 14 other encroachers

on government revenue land at Nayagaon village under Port Blair Tehsil.

In January 1979, a Charter of demands of the people of Andaman and

Nicobar Islands was received, followed by a letter from then M.P. Shri

Manoranjan Bhakta titled, “why this Hunger Strike”. Shri Bhakta was

reported to be on indefinite hunger strike since 9th February 1979 and

one of the demand was that “All encroachments on govt. land upto

31/12/78 for construction of huts or for cultivation by weaker sections

should be regularized and eviction stopped.”

5. This issue of eviction of unauthorized occupants was flagged by the

Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha as Starred question on

15/12/1979. The Ministry of Agriculture, and Irrigation (Department of

Agriculture and cooperation), Govt. of India in consultation with the A &

N Administration constituted a committee vide resolution No.F.3-

42/79/F.II under the Chairmanship of Shri M.K. Dalvi, Additional I.G.F.,

Department of Agriculture and Corporation, New Delhi to go into the

whole question of encroachment on forest as well as revenue land. The

Dalvi committee recommended that:-

(i) The encroachment should be properly demarcated and all care be

taken to guard against possibilities of further extension of

encroachments;

(ii) For effective control on hitherto unchecked influx of people from

mainland into the islands, necessary legal provisions may be

considered by the Ministry of Law and Home Affairs;


(iii) As regards encroachment on revenue lands, provisions contained

in the A & N Land Reforms and land Revenue Regulation 1966 for

eviction of encroachers appears to be adequate, but the A & N

Administration may consider if the scheme of priorities in

allotment needs to be re-considered; particularly in context of

regularizing encroachments in Paschim Sagar and Gandhi Nagar;

(iv) Provisions in the Indian Forest Act (1927) as applicable to the

Union Territory, are not adequate for control and eviction of

encroachers from forest lands. Draft amendment of the Indian

Forest Act (1927) as proposed by the A & N Island Forest

Department is under consideration which should be pursued but

in the mean time the Administration should examine framing of

specific rules under sub section (d) of section 76 of Chapter 12 of

the Indian Forest Act (1927) for eviction of encroachment from

forest land;

(v) It should not be the policy to regularize encroachment on forest

and revenue land, but the committee, feels that the existing

encroachment on forest land in Paschim Sagar and Gandhi Nagar

may be regularized. The area to be regularized in these centres

may be taken over by revenue department and that department

will make requisite provisions in the Andaman & Nicobar Island

Land Revenue and Land Reforms Regulation and Rules to enable

regularization of encroachments after the Indian Forest Act is

amended, as suggested above;

(vi) Encroachers from forest areas other than Gandhi Nagar and

Paschim Sagar should be evicted and only the deserving ones will

be settled, if possible and feasible, on the land found surplus in

Gandhi Nagar, Paschim Sagar and other revenue areas;

(vii) After eviction of encroachers from forest land those lands should

be brought under plantation of economic species expeditiously.


However after eviction of encroachers from revenue land the

revenue areas will be kept with the revenue department for

allotment for government use or private purpose in accordance

with the Andaman & Nicobar Island Land Revenue and Land

Reforms Regulation. Copy of resolution annexed hereto and

marked as Annexure – ‘D1’.

6. The recommendations of M.K.Dalvi Committee were circulated in the

Home Ministry Advisory Committee (HMAC) and, the Ministry of Home

Affairs requested the Administration to prepare a complete list of all

persons who had encroached upon forest and revenue land by

comprehensive survey, demarcating the same on the ground.

7. Accordingly, the Andaman and Nicobar Administration Constituted a

Committee comprising the then Chief Conservator of Forests, Inspector

General of Police and Deputy Commissioner Vide order No. 4861 dated

21/10/1982 for preparation of a Complete list of all the persons who had

encroached upon Forest and Revenue lands along with the maps and

records. Copy of order is annexed and marked as Annexure – ‘D2’

8. The Committee after detailed field inspection and deliberation compiled

the list of all encroachments and submitted a statement showing the

forest and revenue encroachment alongwith number of persons in the

District of Andaman vide letter No.CF/D/25-A dated 29/10/1983. Copy

of the statement is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure – ‘D3’.

4.2 APPROVAL ACCORDED FOR REGULARIZATION OF PRE-1978

ENCROACHMENTS


1. The A&N Administration vide letter No.54-1/85-H&R dated 17/08/1987

conveyed the scheme “for disposal of government land in revenue

villages unauthorisedly occupied on or before 31/12/1978 and for

creation of tenancies in respect of such lands”, to the Deputy

Commissioner and asked to put up all the cases as per details of Pre-

1978 encroachments provided by the High Power Committee constituted

for that purpose. The scheme included the modus-operandi with certain

terms and conditions. Copy of the scheme is annexed hereto and marked

as Annexure- ‘D4’.

2. In addition to above, a notice was also published in the Daily Telegrams

on 28/02/1988 and 10/03/1988 inviting applications from the

encroachers who claimed to have committed encroachment on

government revenue land prior to 31/12/1978. Copy of the notices are

annexed hereto and marked as Annexure- ‘D5’.

3. In response to the notice a total number of 15165 applications for

regularization of land were received. After consideration 7212 nos.

found to be eligible and hence regularized and licences issued.

4. Subsequently, the above scheme was closed on 27/11/1998 through

press note issued by the Deputy Commissioner (Andaman). Copy of press

release placed at annexure – ‘D6’.

5. The A & N Administration from time to time has allotted homestead and

agriculture land to landless persons upto 1987. The homestead lands

were allotted/regularized for landless and weaker sections of society

under Twenty-Point Programme of Government of India. The Tehsil

wise details of the house sites allotted is below.


(Source : DC , South Andaman )

6. In addition to the above the A&N Administration again initiated the

process for allotment of house sites to the landless persons in Andaman

Islands subject to the availability of vacant government revenue land.

The proclamation to this effect was issued in the year 1994. In response

to the proclamation a total of 33637 applications were received. However

all the applications were rejected by the then Deputy Commissioner,

South Andaman vide order dt. 09/03/2004, in pursuance of the

directions of Hon’ble High of Calcutta, Circuit Bench at Port Blair in W.P.

No. 138/2003 (LBA and Others -vs- Lt. Governor and Others) as most of

the lands envisaged for allotment was under deemed forest or under

encroachment.

SL. No NAME OF TEHSIL NO. OF HOUSE

SITE AREA IN HECTS

YEAR OF

ALLOTMENT

1 Port Blair 6626 194.1686.6 1967-1986

2 Diglipur 988 21.505 1971-1986

3 Mayabunder 930 26.158 1971-1986

4 Rangat 1801 44.5227 1971-1998

5 Little Andaman 941 67.4472 1971-1986

6 Campbell Bay 125 2.9829 1983-1989

7 Ferrargunj 3406 127.6899 1962-1986


7. In the meanwhile, the Hon’ble Supreme Court had issued direction to the

Ministry of Environment & Forest to appoint Prof. Sekhar Singh as a

Commissioner to prepare a report on the State of the Forest and other allied

matters of Andaman & Nicobar Islands in W.P. (C) 202 of 1995

(Godaverman Thirumalpad –vs- UOI & Ors) vide order dated 23/11/2001.

Copy of the order is annexed hereto and marked as annexed at Annexure –

‘D7’.

8. The Ministry of Environment & Forest vide order dated 06/12/2001 issued

appointment order to Prof. Sekhar Singh. The Commission submitted its

report to the Apex Court with following recommendations in respect of

encroachments:-

i) Any further regularization of encroachments on forestland in

any form, including allotment/use of forestland for agriculture

or horticultural purposes, should be strictly prohibited.

ii) All those families who have been identified as having

encroachment on forest land prior to 1978 and have not yet

shifted to their allotted rehabilitation site should be given three

months notice to vacate their encroachment and shift to the

allotted land failing which they should be forcibly evicted

without any further claim.

iii) Those among the pre-1978 families that have shifted to their

allotted sites but have occupied more land should be given

three months notice to vacate extra land failing to which the

allotment should be cancelled and they should be forcibly


evicted within three months without any further claim to

compensation or land.

iv) All post-1978 forest encroachment shall be completely removed

forthwith and, in any case, within six months. Post-1978 forest

encroachers (except for foreign nationals) should be allotted

homesteads in revenue land and training and opportunity of

self employment or for other types of livelihood activities

provided.

v) The eviction of encroachers and effective action plan shall be

prepared and implemented under direct supervision, monitoring

and control of a committee under the Chairmanship of the Lt.

Governor, with the Chief Secretary, PCCF and reputed NGO

representatives as its members.

vi) The Chief Secretary, A & N Islands shall file a monthly affidavit

in the Hon’ble Supreme Court about the progress of eviction of

encroachment.

vii) In order to prevent any further encroachment and rampant

immigration, the administration should, within three months,

regulate the entry of people to the island by having the islands

declared as an inner line area. Copy of report of Sekhar Singh

Commission is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure –‘D8’.

9. The Hon’ble Supreme Court accepted the report of Prof. Sekhar Singh and

issue order dated 07/05/2002 with some modification in IA No.502 in W.P.

(c) No.202 of 1995 (Godaverman Thirumalpad –vs- UOI & Ors) with the

following direction:-


a) Regularization of encroachment on forest land in any form,

including allotment/use of forest land for agriculture or

horticulture purpose, shall be strictly prohibited.

b) All post-1978 forest encroachment shall be completely removed

within three months.

c) The eviction of encroachers and effective action plan shall be

prepared and implemented under direct supervision, monitoring

and control of a committee under the Chairmanship of the Lt.

Governor, with the Chief Secretary, PCCF and reputed NGO

representatives as its members.

d) The Chief Secretary, A & N Islands shall file monthly affidavit in

the Apex Court about the progress of eviction of encroachment

(except foreign national). Copy of order dated 07/05/2002 of the

Supreme Court is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure – ‘D9’.

10. As per the records available, 4312 cases of Post-1978 forest

encroachments comprising 3991 individuals and 321 institutions/Govt

Building/religious structure over an area of 3563.59 Ha forest land spread

over 165 pockets were identified.

11. In compliance with the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, notices

were issued for eviction of post-1978 forest encroachers. Pre-1978 forest

encroachers were issued licenses for allotment of land to a maximum extent

of 1.00 hectare in the de-reserved blocks. The process of shifting the pre-

1978 forest encroachers from reserve forest to de-reserve blocks has not

completed yet. An affidavit on the progress is being filed by the Chief

Secretary, A&N Administration before the Hon’ble Supreme Court every

month.


12. Pursuant to the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court with reference to the

Sekhar Singh Commission report, the A & N Administration prepared a

Rehabilitation package for post-1978 forest encroachers, on humanitarian

consideration and submitted to MHA, which contained:

allotment of land to the forest encroachers (on deemed forest land),

cash compensation of Rs.75,000/-,

employment of one member of the small family (two members in

case the family size is more than five),

supply of ration for six months at BPL rate and,

payment of hostel fee for school going children @ Rs.400/-.

13. The Rehabilitation package so proposed by the Andaman & Nicobar

Administration was approved by MHA and conveyed vide letter No.U-

14040/59/2002-ANL dated 13/03/2003 and sanction was accorded to

incur expenditure of Rs.48.83 Crore. Copy of the package of 2003 duly

approved by MHA is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure –‘D10’.

14. The A & N Administration had published a press note on 17th & 18th

August 2003 for the Draw of Lots for allotment of land to the identified post-

1978 Forest encroachers of South Andaman. The draw of lots was

conducted on 18th August 2003. Annexure –‘D11’.

15. Being aggrieved by the rehabilitation package for post-1978 forest

encroachers, the Local Born Association (LBA) of this Island moved a W.P.

No.138 of 2003 in the High Court of Calcutta. The petition was filed inter-

alia, challenging the validity of the decision of the respondents to allot the

land to post-1978 forest encroachers vide press notes dated 17th and 18th

August, 2003. They further prayed the Hon’ble Court to issue an order in


the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent authorities to consider

the case of those persons who have submitted applications in response to

the proclamations issued in November 1994 (for allotment of house sites) at

the first instance. Annexure –‘D12’.

16. The Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta vide order dated 01/09/2003 held that

the issue of post-1978 forest encroachers and the actions to be taken

against the encroachments are governed by orders passed by the Apex

Court and as such the entire question is required to be dealt with by the

Apex court and not by this court (Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta). Liberty

was granted to the Writ petitioners to take appropriate steps at the

appropriate forum and not before the High Court at Calcutta. Annexure –

‘D13’.

17. The Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta further directed the respondent to issue

a speaking order with regard to applications for allotment of land received

from landless persons in pursuance of proclamation issued on 07/11/1994.

In compliance with the direction of the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court dated

01/09/2003, the Deputy Commissioner (Andaman) issued a speaking order

dated 09/03/2004, whereby, it was conveyed that the allotment of house

sites could not be considered on account of the fact that identified locations

for allotment of house sites were either declared Deemed Forest or under

encroachments. Moreover, adequate land was not available for this purpose.

Thus the applications so received vide proclamation made in the year 1994

were rejected. Annexure –‘D14’.

18. Pursuant to the order of the Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta dated

01/09/2003 and in terms of liberty granted, the Local Born Association filed

an SLP bearing No.18030 of 2003 before the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

Annexure –‘D15’.


19. The Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the respondents (A & N

Administration) in SLP No.18030 of 2003 dated 09/10/2003, made a

statement before the Supreme Court that no further allotment would be

considered in order to implement the rehabilitation package of 2003.

20. The Hon’ble Court vide its order dated 24/11/2003 referred the SLP to

Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for examination and to submit report

within eight weeks.

21. The CEC submitted its report on 18/03/2004 in which it held that the

forest land including Deemed forest should not be allowed to be used for

rehabilitation of forest encroachers and the Andaman and Nicobar

Administration should re-consider the rehabilitation package on the basis of

available non forest land. Annexure –‘D16’.

22. Taking into account the report of CEC and due scarcity of revenue land the

administration made a fresh settlement plan during June, 2007 and

submitted it to the MHA, GOI for approval. Annexure –‘D17’.

23. In new Settlement Plan it has been proposed that the revenue land

encroached by the revenue encroacher shall also be regularized to the

extent of 340 Sq. mtrs. in Rural areas and 200 Sq. Mtrs in Urban areas, or

to the extent of area under encroachment, whichever is less. The excess

area, if any, after regularization shall be recovered and utilized for allotment

to the post-1978 forest encroachers to the extent of 340 sq. mtrs in rural

areas and to the other eligible category of population identified by the

administration. This plan therefore incorporate a component for eviction

post 78 forest encroachers and then rehabilitation.


24. The Ministry of Home Affairs approved the proposal vide letter No. U-

13030/1/2007-ANL dated 26/06/2009 which states that:

(i) The Ministry have no objection to the A & N Administration taking

up the proposal with Ministry of Environment & Forest/ CEC for

prior approval in respect of proposed settlement plan to meet

shortage of land in allotment to settlers, since the land requirement

for the above settlement plan is to be met from deemed forest.

(ii) Similarly, the Settlement of pre-1978 ex-situ forest encroachers in

the 9 newly identified forest pockets due to non availability of

suitable land for settlement in 19 identified dereseved blocks may

also be taken up with MoEF/CEC for prior approval.

(iii) As regards the post-1978 revenue and forest encroachers, “in

Principle” approval for the proposal to allot 340 Sq. mtrs of house site

is granted subject to the following condition:-

(a) That no land in the proposed settlement comes under

forest/deemed forest category.

(b) That the number of beneficiaries and land required for settlement

will be firmed on detailed survey and reported to the Ministry.

(c) That the proposed settlement plan would exhaustively cover all

requirements of land to be recovered from the post-1978 revenue

encroachers.

(d) That no ineligible persons including foreign nationals are

included in the list. The criteria and determination of eligibility


will be approved by MHA. Further, A & N Administration must

get the identity of such persons, who will be the beneficiaries of

the above settlement plan vetted by a team of officers consisting

of District Administration, Police, Forest officials and Panchayat

members. The names so selected by an open/transparent process

will be further published and objection invited before allotment of

land is finalized.

(e) The A & N Administration shall ensure that the beneficiaries are

not allowed to sell/transfer in any manner the land allotted to

them except with the prior approval of the Hon’ble Lt. Governor.

(f) That no other settlement plan is under consideration or will be

considered beyond the cut-off date of 07.05.2002 and

encroachment registers will be frozen with effect from that date.

(g) Certify that there is no any Stay order from any court on the

subject or that the proposed settlement plan is not barred by any

court’s order/direction. Annexure ‘D18’.

25. Detailed analysis of land in possession of Post-1978 revenue

encroachers (6866 in No.) reveals the following:-


Almost half of the encroachers i.e. 3125 out of total 6866 are in Port

Blair and Ferrargunj Tehsil of South Andaman District.

In the PBMC area the total number of encroachers are 2408

occupying an area of 52.28 hects.

Average possession of PBMC post-1978 revenue encroachers comes to

217.1 Sq. mtrs. therefore, implementation of ettlement plan in PBMC

area would only require regularization of the land in possession of the

revenue encroachers.

There are only 1417 encroachers having possession of land more than

2000 Sq. mtrs. Their average possession of land is to the extent of

7516 Sq. mtrs. The settlement plan for these encroachers would

Tehsil Wise Abstract

SL.No Name of

Tehsil

350 Sq. Mtrs 1000 Sq. mtrs 2000 sq. Mtrs ABOVE 2000 Sq.

Mtrs Total Nos Area

Total Nos Area

Total Nos Area

Total Nos Area

1 Diglipur 152 2.53 23 5.1 48 8.02 201 178.02 2 Mayabunder 235 13.92 108 7.25 90 15.47 337 258.15 3 Rangat 151 2.7 84 5.3 30 5.4 150 126.26 4 Port Blair 2334 27.894 200 11.991 63 8.72 284 169.52 5 Ferrargunj 791 15.803 267 16.76 59 9.86 206 163.57

6 Little Andaman 402 0.683 38 3.63 53 4.85 225 155.45

7 Camobell Bay 173 0.82 14 0.92 3 0.55 14 14.05

Total 4238 64.35 734 50.951 346 52.87 1417 1065.02


require encroachment removal along with regularization of 200/340

Sq.mtrs. of land as applicable.

All post 78 forest encroachers plus new applicants can be

accommodated with house sites of 200/340 square meter once excess

land is recovered from post 78 revenue encroachers.

26. The A&N Administration filled an IA No.2784 of 2010 on 15/01/2010

before the Hon’ble Supreme Court with the following Prayers:

To modify the order dated 12/12/1996 in W.P. No.202 of 1995

(Godavarman Tirumalpad –vs- UOI & Ors) to allow utilization of

Deemed Forest land for development purpose without providing

any alternative land for Compensatory Aforestation due to non

availability of any alternative land in these islands and;

To allow the Administration to implement the settlement plan

approved by the Government of India vide letter dated

26/06/2009 for regularization of post-1978 revenue and forest

encroachers;

To exempt the administration from payment of Net present value

(NPV). Annexure –‘D19’.

27. With reference to the IA No.2784 of 2010, the CEC held a meeting with the

Lt. Governor and Chief Secretary, as well as the concerned officers of the

Revenue and Forest department of A & N Administration at Port Blair on

02/06/2016. Thereafter, the CEC also held a meeting with the Chief

Secretary and the concerned officers at New Delhi on 27/06/2016.


28. The CEC submitted its report to the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its letter

No.1-19/CEC/SC/2008-Pt.XXXXIV dated 29/07/2016 with following

suggestions/recommendations:-

(i) The applicant Administration before seeking modification of this

Hon’ble Courts order dated 07/05/2002 should first comply with

all the directions therein.

(ii) The CEC is not recommending modification of Hon’ble Court

order dated 07/05/2002 to allow the use of deemed forest without

providing alternative equivalent non forest land for undertaking

compensatory afforestation which is mandatory.

(iii) The CEC has no objection if the applicant Administration

implement the settlement plan as approved ‘in principle’ by the

MHA, provided it is consistent with and not in violation of this

Hon’ble Court’s order dated 07/05/2002.

(iv) The CEC is not recommending the exemption from the

payment of NPV. Annexure –‘D20’.

29. The A & N Administration objected the report submitted by CEC by filling

an affidavit in opposition in the month of March, 2017. Annexure –‘D21’.

30. The above IA No. 2784 of 2010 is still pending before the Hon’ble Supreme

Court of India. The package of 2009 cannot be implemented till the IA No

2784 is adjudicated. The process for regularization of post 78 Revenue and

Forest encroachers can move forwarded only after the 2009 settlement Plan

is implemented.


4.3 RECOMMENDATION

1. The A & N Administration is already committed to implementation of the

Settlement plan of 2009 wherein, the land under the possession of post-

1978 revenue encroachers has to be regularized to the extent of 200 Sq.

mtrs. (Urban) and 340 Sq.mtrs. (Rural).

2. MHA has approved the above settlement plan on 26.06.2009.

Administration had filed an IA 2784/ 2010 seeking permission of Hon’ble

Supreme Court for implementation of resettlement plan.

3. The CEC in its report of 29/02/2016 has approved the settlement plan

“in principle”.

4. A & N Administration should approach the Hon’ble Supreme Court for

early decision in this regard as the CEC has favorably recommended the

matter.

5. Once the execution of settlement plan is approved by the Hon’ble Court,

the A & N Administration should develop a strategy to execute the plan

in a time bound manner within 2 years. Following points need to be kept

in view before initiating the process:-

A dedicated Tehsil-wise team consisting of Police, Revenue, Forest,

APWD should be formed under the chairmanship of Tehsildar.


The team should start with ground truthing of the Revenue

encroachment data available with the Tehsil (2002 cut off year).

Thereafter, the layout preparation for the land to be regularized as

well as land to be freed from encroachment should be made as per

the existing planning norms. The major exercise for encroachment

removal along with regularization of land should follow the layout

preparation.

The MHA had directed that the eligibility criteria for regularization

shall be approved by MHA before the implementation of

resettlement plan. Accordingly A & N Administration should

develop inclusion/exclusion criteria for the regularization scheme.

The Committee observes that the terms and conditions put for Pre-

1978, revenue encroachment regularization scheme could be

adopted in the proposed resettlement plan as well. Further, the

beneficiaries should also be allowed to sell/transfer the land so

regularized, without the permission of the Lt. Governor. This

stipulation put by MHA while approving the settlement plan should

be removed.

In implementation of the plan, the lessons learnt by the

Administration while implementing the 1987 revenue

encroachment regularization scheme should be born in the mind

i.e.:-

The whole process should be executed in a time bound

manner with clear time lines for all activates/sub-activities.


The list of (2002 cut off) encroachers available with the

revenue department should be sacrosanct. No tinkering or

modification of the list should be allowed at any level.

The start and the end of the process should be clearly

defined and it should be made clear to all beneficiaries and

general public that the implementation shall be one time

exercise with clear end date.

Vacation of excess land should be a mandatory pre

condition before regularization of land. This should be

enforced strictly without any exception.

Cancellation of license in the event of the beneficiary again

committing encroachment in future should be put as a

condition of license.

6. As far as the remaining prayers in IA 2784 are concerned A&N

Administration should agree to payment of NPV for compensatory

afforestation and identify land for compensatory afforestation in some

State in the mainland, since sufficient land is simply not available in

A&N Islands. Hence, stipulations relating to payment of NPV and

provision of land for compensatory afforestation need not be reclaimed,

as sought in the prayer under IA 2784.

71 | P a g e TERMS OF REFERENCE: E

5. TERMS OF REFERNCE (E)

Examine the demand for allotment of revenue land to post-1978

encroachers of forest land who have to be removed there from on

order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and make recommendations;

5.1 BRIEF HISTORY

Encroachments inside the forest areas started soon after the completion

of colonization/ settlement schemes in the late sixties and increased

after 1969 due to influx of migration from various parts f the country,

including illegal entrants from neighbouring countries.

The then Ministry of Agriculture in the year 1979 appointed an Expert

Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri M.K. Dalvi, Addl. IGF, GoI to

go into the whole question of encroachment in Forest as well as Revenue

land and to determine the extent of encroachment and identification of

circumstances leading to encroachment (Annexure ‘D1’).

The Committee submitted its report giving the extent of encroachment on

Forest and Revenue land as on 31.12.1979 identifying 1174 families

encroaching upon 2824.57 Ha of forest land and 2673 families upon

1165.96 Ha of Revenue Land. It was also pointed out that much of the

encroachment on forest land had taken place in Paschim Sagar, Gandhi

Nagar, Ganesh Nagar, Radha Nagar, Shanti Nagar, Burmachad and

Talbagan in Diglipur Forest Division whereas the encroachments on

Revenue land were reported in Port Blair, Ferrargunj, Rangat,

Mayabunder and Diglipur Tehsils.


The recommendations of this Committee were circulated in the Home

Ministers Advisory Committee (HMAC) and the Ministry of Home Affairs

vide its DO letter No. U-13011/2(S-15)/72-ANL dated 30th May, 1981

(Annexure ‘E1’) requested the Andaman & Nicobar Administration to

prepare a complete list of all persons who had encroached upon Forest

and Revenue lands by conducting a comprehensive survey and

demarcating the same on the ground.

Accordingly, a Committee comprising the Chief Conservator of Forests,

Inspector General of Police and Deputy Commissioner constituted vide

Order No. 4861 dated 21.10.82 (Annexure ‘D2’) was assigned the task of

preparation of a complete list of all the persons who had encroached

upon the Forest and Revenue lands along with the maps and records,

through joint survey teams with personnel drawn from Revenue, Forest

and Police Departments. The team consisting of Divisional Forest Officer,

Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) and Dy. Superintendent of Police after

detailed field inspections and deliberation had compiled the list of all

encroachments which existed on forest and revenue lands as in 1982-83.

The joint survey was conducted under the general supervision of the

Chief Conservator of Forests. The final report along with all the

documents of the joint survey were submitted to the Revenue Secretary

vide letter No CF/G/25-A dated 29th October, 1983 (Annexure ‘D3’). The

committee had identified 3737 Nos. of encroachments covering an area of

2382.95 Ha in Revenue land and 1795 Nos. of encroachments covering

an area of 2846.99 Ha in Forest Land.


The Island Development Authority, in its first meeting held on 27.12.86

under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, took a decision to

regularize all encroachments in forest areas upto 31.12.1978, with the

stipulation that encroachment upto 01(one) ha per family will be

regularized by ensuring that this would not result in honeycombing of

the forests and that diversion of forest land would be permitted subject

to the condition that equal area of revenue land would be allocated to

Forest Department (Annexure ‘E2’).

Accordingly, a list of eligible encroachers were drawn up and a total of

1376 encroachers were identified as pre-1978 forest encroachers and

thus entitled for getting land upto 01 Ha per family. For the purpose of

settlement of these 1367 Pre-1978 encroacher families, 1367 Ha of

forest land was identified in 19 pockets for settlement of 645 families and

shifting of 722 encroacher families thereto from other places.

The 19 de-reserved pockets are Indiranagar (38 Ha), Maccapahar (56

Ha), Kodiyaghat (35 Ha) in South Andaman, Roglachang (0.48Ha),

Nayagarh (1.0 Ha) and lakhnokhana (9.0 Ha) in Baratang, Laucki Nallah

(17 Ha) in Middle Andaman, east of Bajota (21 Ha), adjoining Rest Camp

village (127 Ha), north of Chainpur village (6 Ha), south west of

Karmatang X (56 Ha), east of Karmatang X village (42 Ha), south west of

Tugapur VIII village (23 Ha), west of Webi village (26 Ha) and west of

Karmatang IX village (82 Ha) in Mayabunder, Paschim Sagar (401 Ha),

Shantinagar (152 Ha), Ganeshnagar (119 Ha) and Gandhinagar (155 Ha)

in Diglipur.

The proposal for de-reservation of 1367 Ha of forest land for

regularization of the encroachments as per the provisions of the Forest


(Conservation) Act, 1927 was approved by the Ministry of Environment &

Forests vide their letter No.8-274/87-FC dated 19th August, 1988

(Annexure ‘E3’).

An area of 1434 Ha in Survey No.1 - Jagannath Dera was released by the

Revenue Department towards Compensatory Afforestation.

The A&N Administration constituted a Review Committee, one each for

forest land and revenue land vide Notification No.54-1/85-H&R dated

10.2.88 (Annexure ‘E4’) to scrutinize a large number of representations

received thereafter from the members of the public against omission of

their names from the list prepared by the High Powered Committee

constituted by the Administration vide Order No.4861 dated 21.10.82

and to prepare a list of persons found eligible for regularization of

encroachments.

That out of 2866 claims received, the Committee on scrutiny

recommended only 89 claims as genuine pre-1978 forest encroachments,

which had inadvertently been left out in the past. The recommendation of

the Review Committee is placed at Annexure ‘E5’.

STATUS AFTER 2002

The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated 23.11.2001 in I.A.

No.502 of 1999 filed by the Society for Andaman & Nicobar Ecology

(SANE), Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and Kalpavriksh

appointed Prof. Sekhar Singh as Commissioner to submit a report on the

State of Forests and other allied matters in A & N Islands.


The Hon’ble Supreme Court in its Order dated 07.05.2002 in IA No 502

of 1999 accepted Prof. Sekhar Singh report. Prof. Sekhar Singh in his

report had recommended that:

“All Post-1978 forest encroachments should be completely removed

forthwith and, in any case, within six months. Post-1978 encroachers

(except for foreign nationals) should be allotted homesteads in

revenue land and training and opportunity for self-employment or for

other types of livelihood activities provided.”

The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide order dated 07.05.2002 accepted the

Shekhar Singh Commission Report with certain modifications. The Order

of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 07.05.2002 and Prof. Shekhar Singh

Commission Report is annexed as Annexure ‘D8’ and ‘D9’. The

relevant portion of the said order is reproduced herein below:

“(12) Regularization of encroachments on forest land in any form,

including allotment/use of forest land for Agricultural or Horticulture

purpose, shall be strictly prohibited”.

(13) All those families who have been identified as having encroached

on forest land prior to 1978 and have not yet shifted to their allotted

rehabilitation sites, shall be given one month notice to vacate their

encroachments and shift to the allotted land. Failing this, their

allotment shall be cancelled and they shall be forcibly evicted within

three months of the deadline being over, without any further claim to

land or any other form of rehabilitation. Such notices should be issued

within six months.


(14) Similarly, those among the pre -1978 families that have shifted to

their allotted sites but have occupied more land than they were entitled

to shall also be given one month’s notice to vacate the extra land

occupied by them. On the expiry of the notice, the allotments of those

who have not complied with this notice shall be cancelled and they

should be forcibly evicted within three months without any further

claims to compensation of land. Such notices should be issued within

six months.

(15) All the post -78 encroachments shall be completely removed within

three months.

(16) For the eviction of encroachers, an effective action plan shall be

prepared and implemented under direct supervision, monitoring and

control of a Committee under the Chairmanship of the Lt. Governor with

Chief Secretary, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and reputed

NGO representatives, its members. The Chief Secretary, Andaman &

Nicobar Islands, shall file every month an affidavit about progress of

eviction of encroachments.”

5.2.1 Pre -1978 Forest Encroachments:

The Hon’ble Supreme Court in its order dated 7.05.2002 directed

to issue one month’s notice to all Pre-1978 forest encroachers to vacate

the forest land encroached by them and shift to de-reserved land and

also to those pre-1978 forest encroachers who have occupied land in

excess of allotment (upto 1.00 Ha). A re-survey was then conducted and

actual number of Pre-1978 encroachers identified in forest areas


including the dereserved block were found to be 1149. Out of the total

1149 Pre-1978 forest encroachers, 522 were in the de-reserved blocks

and were regularized in-situ, whereas the remaining 627 were to be

evicted from the forest land and shifted to the dereserved forest land.

Out of the remaining 627 ex-situ encroachers, complete eviction

has been carried out in 51 cases. The district wise and forest division

wise breakup of Pre-1978 forest encroachments and the eviction made,

as on October, 2017 are recorded as under:

S.No District Name of

Forest

Division

Total No

of Case

Evicted

1 North &

Middle

Andaman

North Andaman Diglipur 390 28

2 Middle Andaman Mayabunder 205 18

3 Middle

Andaman

12 0

4 South Andaman Baratang 5 5

5 South

Andaman

15 0

6 Nicobar District Nicobar

Division

0 0

Total 627 51


The reasons for non-eviction of 576 (627-51=576) cases are

indicated in the table below:

Could not be settled due to local resistance 81

Refused to take possession of land and sign the possession certificate 15

Possession of identified plots handed over but not shifted 94

Could not be settled due to de-reserved land unsuitable for settlement 386

TOTAL 576

An Interlocutory Application (IA) No. 2686 of 2011 has been filed

before the Apex Court on 04.08.2011 by the A & N Administration with

the prayer to allow the Administration to use 432 Ha of forest land to

settle 386 cases of Pre-1978 encroachers as the land dereserved for the

purpose was not found suitable on account of having a large number of

naturally grown trees, presence of nallahs, streams and area having

steep slopes. A detailed note on I.A. No. 2686 of 2011 has been placed as

Annexure-‘E6’.

5.3 Post-1978 Forest Encroachments:

As per records available, 4312 cases of Post-1978 encroachments

comprising 3991 individuals and 321 institutions/Govt

Building/religious structure over an area of 3563.59 Ha forest land

spread over 168 pockets were identified and their district wise status as

on October, 2017 is produced in the table below:


Sl.

No.

District Name of

Division

Total No

of Case

Area

encroached

(Ha)

Eviction

completed

(Nos)

Area

evicted

(Ha)

1 North &

Middle

Andaman

Diglipur 1118 1094.46 11 9.1

2 Mayabunder 803 818.94 220 247.95

3. Middle

Andaman

745 685.52 241 241.801

4 Baratang 543 217.33 8 6.48

5 South

Andaman

Havelock 1 0.24 1 0.2

6 South

Andaman

982 730.172 293 179.555

7 Little

Andaman

120 16.932 0 0

8 Nicobar Nicobar

Division

0 0 0 0

Total 4312 3563.59 774 685.126

The pocket-wise details of Pre and Pre-1978 encroachments is

given as Annexure ‘E7’. The Forest Division wise map of the encroachment

pockets (Pre -1978 and Post 1978) showing the total number of cases

and the status of eviction are placed as Annexure ‘E8’.

The Prime Minister on his visit to these islands on 20/01/2003

announced at Port Blair as follows:

“5. The Post-1978 settlers may be allotted one acre of land in place of

500 sq. mtrs. land as proposed in the rehabilitation package.”

For the purpose of relocating the Post-1978 forest encroachers and

providing them sustainable livelihood options, the A & N Administration

proposed a rehabilitation package which was approved by the

Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs by its letter of February

2003 bearing No. 14040/59/2002-ANL (Annexure ‘E9’).


As there was no available revenue land to accommodate and relocate

these families, the Administration had to consider the relocation in land

which were earlier revenue land but later classified as deemed forest land

as per the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order dated 12.12.1996. Accordingly,

the Administration wrote to the Government of India vide letter dated

23.12.2003 (Annexure ‘E10’) for allotment of land to the landless people

and dependent members of the settlers and for various developmental

works of the Administration, including allotment of land to the evictees

from the forest.

In response to the letter dated 23.12.2003 of the Administration, the

Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India after examining the

proposals informed vide letter No F.No. 8-7/2004-FC dated April 2004,

that the matter shall be considered by the Central Government only after

the Administration move to the Hon’ble Supreme Court in this regard.

(Annexure ‘E11’).

Thereafter the Andaman & Nicobar Administration filed an I. A. No. 1264

of 2004 in I. A. No. 502 of 1999 in W.P No 202 of 1995 before the Hon’ble

Supreme Court on 17.11.2004 with the following prayers:

Modify order dated 07.05.2002 to allow the use of revenue land

which is now falling in the category of deemed forests for relocating

and rehabilitating the post -1978 encroachers.

Consequently also relax the ban on felling of naturally grown trees

standing on such deemed forest land diverted or de-reserved for

non-forestry purpose as per the provisions of (FCA) Act, 1980 in

terms of orders dated 10.10.2001 and 23rd November, 2001.

Modify and/or clarify the order dated 07.05.2002 to the extent of

allotments of house sites to the post-1978 forest encroachers to

reflect the true intent of the Shekhar Singh Commission Report.


A note on I. A. No. 1264 of 2004 is placed as (Annexure ‘E12’).

In the meantime, pursuant to the order of the Hon’ble High Court

of Calcutta dated 01.09.2003 in W.P. No 138 of 2003 and in terms

of liberty granted to the Local Borns’ Association, SLP No. 18030

of 2003 was filed by the Local Borns’ Association before the

Hon’ble Supreme Court, objecting to the rehabilitation package

proposed for post 1978 forest encroachers.

The Ld. Senior Counsel appearing for the Respondent i.e. Andaman &

Nicobar Administration in SLP No. 18030 on 09.10.2003 (Annexure

‘E13’), made a statement that the Respondents would not make any

further allotment of land under the Rehabilitation Package till further

order of the Hon’ble Court.

This Hon’ble Supreme Court by its order dated 24.11.2003 (Annexure

‘E14’) was pleased to refer the SLP to the Central Empowered

Committee (CEC) for examination and to submit its report within eight

weeks.

The CEC gave its report dated 18.03.2004 (Annexure ‘E15’) holding

that the forest land including deemed forest land should not be allowed

to be used for rehabilitation of Forest Encroachers and the Andaman

and Nicobar Administration should reconsider the rehabilitation

package on the basis of available non forest land.

In view of the submissions made by the Administration in SLP No.

18030 on 09.10.2003, the Administration could not make any further

allotment of land under the Rehabilitation Package. After further

consideration, the Administration proposed a fresh settlement plan


during June, 2007 and submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt.

of India for approval.

The new settlement Plan was approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs,

GoI vide letter No F. No U-13030/1/2007-ANL dated 26.06.2009

(Annexure ‘D18’). Under the new settlement plan it is proposed that the

revenue land encroached by the revenue encroachers shall be

regularized to the extent of 340 sq. mtr. in rural area and 200 sq. mtr.

in urban areas, or to the extent of area under encroachment whichever

is less. Excess area after regularizing 340/200 sq. mtr. shall be

recovered and utilized for allotment to the Post-1978 forest encroachers

to the extent of 340 sq. mtr. land and to the other eligible category of

population.

Subsequently, the A & N Administration (Revenue Department) filed I. A.

No. 2784 of 2010 on 21.10.2010 in which one of the prayers is to allow

the A & N Administration to implement the Settlement Plan approved by

GoI for regularization of Pre-1978 revenue and forest encroachments

and allotment of revenue land to Pre-1978 forest encroachers. A note on

I. A. No. 2784 of 2010 is placed as (Annexure ‘E16’).

In IA No 2784, it was submitted that the Administration proposes to

settle the Post-1978 Forest encroachments on Revenue land as per a

new Settlement Plan and not in Deemed Forest land as originally prayed

for in I.A. No 1264 of 2004.

In view of the above submission made in IA No 2784 of 2010, the

Administration did not further press for any orders in IA No 1264 of

2004.

During the month of July, 2015 i.e. on 27.07.2015, the Andaman &

Nicobar Administration filed additional Affidavit along with map of


deemed forest land for specific and immediate requirement of deemed

forest land before the Hon’ble Central Empowered Committee. The

Administration had filed additional affidavits earlier on 22.11.2013,

19.03.2015 IA.

The CEC submitted its report before the Hon’ble Supreme Court on

28.07.2016 (Annexure ‘D20’)

OBSERVATION OF CEC

1. That in the matter of utilization of deemed forest for non-

forestry purpose the CEC observed inter-alia:

i. That for any diversion of deemed forest land for non-forest use,

the requirement of providing equivalent non-forest land or

double the degraded land for compensatory Afforestation is

mandatory under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation)

Act, 1980.

ii. The CEC is not recommending any exemption from providing

alternate equivalent land for Compensatory Afforestation for

diversion of “deemed forest” land for settlement of encroachers

and for developmental activities in the islands as such

exemption will be in clear violation of the Forest (Conservation)

Act, 1980.


2. That in the matter of eviction of Post-1978 forest encroachers

and Settlement Plan the CEC has observed that:

i. the total number of post -1978 forest encroachers evicted till

15.06.2016 is only 754 and the area reclaimed is mere 668.10

ha. An area of 2895.49 ha out of 3563.39 ha therefore, still

continues to be under illegal occupation of 3558 encroachers.

The Hon’ble Court’s order dated 07.05.2002 thus largely

remains uncomplied with.

ii. In the Settlement Plan approved ‘in principle’ by the Ministry of

Home Affairs subject to certain conditions in June 2009, the

CEC have no objection to this proposal provided, it does not

violate the Hon’ble Court’s order dated 07.05.2002 at serial

(12) by which “....Regularisation of encroachments on forest

land in any form, including allotment/ use of forest land for

agricultural or horticultural purposes, shall be strictly

prohibited”

Based on the above observations the CEC has recommended inter-alia,

the following in respect of IA 2784:

i) the Applicant Administration before seeking modification of this

Hon’ble Court’s order dated 07.05.2002 should first comply with

all the directions therein;

ii) the CEC is not recommending modification of the Hon’ble Court’s

order dated 07.05.2002 to allow the use of “deemed forest” without

providing alternative equivalent non-forest land for undertaking

Compensatory Afforestation which is mandatory under the

provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act,1980;


iii) the CEC has no objection if the Applicant Administration

implements the Settlement Plan as approved in principle by the

Ministry of Home Affairs provided, it is consistent with and not in

violation of the Hon’ble Court’s order dated 07.05.2002.

The A & N Administration (Revenue Department) filed its objection

affidavit before the Hon’ble Supreme Court during March 2017. The

matter is pending before the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

5.4 Lessons learnt from past encroachment eviction drive

For implementing the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated

07.05.2002 in I.A. No. 502 of 1999 in W.P No 202 of 1995 an effective

action plan had been prepared by the A & N Administration for its

implementation under direct supervision, monitoring and control of a

committee under the chairmanship of Lt. Governor, constituted vide

office order No. 9 (File No. F.22(E)/156) dated 22.05.2002 (Annexure

‘E17’) with its partial modification vide office order No. 21 (File No.

F.22(E)/156) dated 01.07.2002 (Annexure ‘E18’).

For monitoring and coordinating the eviction drive, a special cell

consisting of Revenue and Forest officials and Additional District

Magistrate of Andaman was also constituted vide order No.

F.22(E)/156/10 dated 22.05.2002 (Annexure ‘E19’)

In order to review the progress of the eviction drive the Hon’ble Lt.

Governor constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Chief

Secretary with PCCF, IGP, Comm-cum-Secy. (Revenue) and DC


(Andaman) as its members vide order No. F.22(E)/156/11 dated

22.05.2002 (Annexure ‘E20’).

Further, a task force at all divisional levels consisting of officers from

Revenue, Forests and Police were constituted for carrying out the

eviction in each Forest Divisions, vide order No. order No. No.

F.22(E)/156/12 dated 23.05.2002 (Annexure ‘E21’).

As planned, the eviction drive was carried out effectively

conforming to the laid out procedure. However, certain limitations were

felt during execution and those infirmities need to be addressed during

the future execution of eviction drive in the wake of recommendation of

the Committee. In view of the lesson learnt during the last eviction drive,

the following points need to be considered:

Setting up of Temporary camps in the revenue areas close to the

forest encroachment pockets be the first precondition. All the

post 78 forest encroachers to be evicted may first be shifted to

these temporary camps adjacent to their respective forest

encroachment pockets.

While carrying out eviction no structure whatsoever, be left

standing, as was done during the last eviction drive in the year

2002, perhaps on account of a humane response to the

sufferings of the encroachers who were left roofless. This

consideration on humanitarian ground led to re-encroachment

of the evicted land by the same encroachers. Therefore, all

structures, crops, homesteads need to be demolished completely

in future.

Transfer/shifting of the encroachers to temporary camps should

precede the eviction. This would avoid unnecessary resistance

and emotional outburst particularly by women, as experienced


during the last drive. This can be planned for different pockets

depending upon size and distance from other encroachment

pockets.

A proper and uniform procedure be adopted for taking in

custody the individual plot after evicting the encroachers.

Protection and Regeneration camps may be established for these

encroachment pockets for the subsequent 10 years after

eviction, till the land is regenerated and brought close to its

natural profile.

The Administration must have provision of funds for establishing

temporary camps in the Revenue areas. These camps should be

designed with view to cater to basic human needs. As these

camps are only temporary, strict timelines be made for stay in

such camps and adhered to.

The temporary settlement plan should include provision for

ration at BPL rates till they are allotted the land as per the

settlement plan.

Housing assistance should be provided to eligible beneficiaries

under PMAY other schemes for training and self employment

may also be converged.

5.5 STRENGTHENING OF FOREST DEPARTMENT

Forestry in these islands saw its beginning in the year 1883. The policy

of the Administration in the early years was oriented towards commercial

exploitation of forests which was evident from the statement of the Chief

Commissioner “Conservancy & Silviculture must be put in the background

and the Chief Forest Officer must before all be a lumberman & Timber

merchant.”


With this focus on commercial exploitation, the working of forests was

done to cater to the timber requirement of the country and also outside

the country in Europe and Middle East during the early years.

The Department of Environment & Forest had a fleet of boats,

sophisticated machines & equipment, tramlines i.e. the infrastructure best

suited to carry out the lumbering operation. It had all the logistics and was

considered as lifeline of the islands, particularly for people sending outside Port

Blair.

The Indian Forest Policy of 1988, bought about changes in the

management and intervention of Forests in tune with the conservation oriented

Forest Policy of 1988.

The landmark judgment passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in

Godavarman Case triggered a paradigm shift in the management of forest. A

series of orders were passed in Writ Petition(C) No. 202 of 1995titled T. N.

Godavarman Thirumalpad -Vs- Union of India and Ors., turned the course of

Forestry & Forest Management in these islands.

Now, the major mandate of the Department became Conservation &

Protection.

A Department which had all these years every resource and

infrastructure at its disposal suddenly felts the pressure of inadequate logistics

and infrastructure required to discharge its new responsibility effectively.

This fact was observed by Prof. Shekar Singh and it is reflected in his

recommendation as quoted “The Forest Department doesn’t appear to have the

infrastructure, especially in terms of manpower, arms and Fast boats to prevent

poaching” and recommended that “Forest Department should be immediately

strengthened in order to be able to effectively prevent poaching”(Annexure D8).


The Scientific Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Prof. C.R.

Babu to examined the report of prof. Shekar Singh on the ‘Status of Forest and

other Allied Matters in Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ submitted its

recommendations to MoEF&CC for strengthening of infrastructure of Forest

Department of A&N Islands. The extract of the recommendation No. 23 of Prof.

C.R. Babu is reproduced below;

“Shekhar Singh’s recommendations 30, 31 and 32 ensure protection

of biodiversity and hence recommended for implementation. Besides, action

to be taken for the creation of marine police cadre, empowerment of tribal

youth, increase in the manpower of Forest Department at the lower level,

and expansion and strengthening of communication network across the

islands on priority basis.”(Annexure E22).

A report of the expert Committee on Jarawas of Andaman Islands

authored by the K. B. Saxena, former Secy. to Govt. of India in the chapter on

poaching & smuggling has also highlighted the inadequate infrastructure and

man power and recommended, inter-alia, strengthening mobility, resources

and man power for effective patrolling (Annexure E23).

Further, in A&N Islands, Forest Department is one of the important

agencies involved in coastal security. These islands, have a coastal stretch of

1962 KM, and most of it is forest. The IG, Coast Guard during the meeting of

the Anti-poaching Board held on 02.03.2017 intimated that Indian Coast

Guards and the Indian Navy have the mandate of protecting the Marine wealth

in addition to the coastal security beyond 5 NM of the coast. Controlling of

poaching activity and protection of forest and wildlife from land to 5 NM has to

be done by the Forest Department (Annexure E24).

Earlier, a committee constituted by the MoEF&CC under the

chairmanship of the then Additional Inspector General of Forests, Shri S.K.

Pandey also recommended, among other things, establishment of forest


stations to effectively combat forest and wildlife offences. The Ministry accepted

the recommendation and requested all states and UTs to implement the

recommendations (Annexure E25).

Following, the 26.11.2008 Mumbai attack, the Committee constituted by

MoEF&CC, GoI to holistically address the issue of poaching recommended for

procurement of 5 sea worthy boats, M.S Class boats for surveillance, Rigid

Inflatable Boats (RIB) for creeks/coastal area patrolling (Annexure E26).

As decided during 13th IDA meeting on 15.06.2011 and subsequently as

asked by the Ministry, the A&N Administration submitted a detailed proposal

for strengthening of infrastructure and various measures for protection of

forest and wildlife and on advice of the ministry the proposal was included in

the 12th Five Year Plan of the Department (Annexure E27). There were

provisions for establishment of 6 Forest Stations, 5 Sub-Stations and 8 Out-

Posts and the infrastructure included procurement of MS Class vessels,

vehicles and Fast Interceptor Boats. The construction of 5 Forest Stations and

2 Forest Sub-Stations are underway.

During the visit of Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Environment,

Forests & Climate Change to A&N Islands from 16.01.2016 to 19.01.2016, the

issue of augmentation of infrastructure for protection of forests, wildlife and

marine wealth of these islands was discussed and as desired by the Hon’ble

Minister, proposal for strengthening of infrastructure particularly procurement

of seaworthy boats/vessels and vehicles was submitted. The Ministry, in view

of shortage of funds under Intensification and Management of Forests

schemes, asked the proposal to be cleared from the fund under CAMPA and the

proposal is routed for consideration under CAMPA (Annexure E28).

It is also worthwhile to mention that the present organizational system of

beats with a beat officer accompanied by 1-2 mazdoors is no match to contain


the current forest and wildlife offences and there is a need to make a protection

oriented shift. At present 162 Forest Beats are there in Andaman & Nicobar

Islands and the average Beat area comes to about 50 sq.km. It is difficult for

the Beat Officer to protect such a vast area keeping the remoteness, terrain

and coastal environment. There is a need to reorganize the Beats in each

division & the Beat size has to be reduced to keep the average area of Beat

close to 20-25 sq.km. By doing so, there is a need for another 162 Beat

Officers. In addition camps in sensitive areas with 2-3 executive staff are also

required to be set up.

Further, following the proposed eviction drive, Protection and

Regeneration assumes high importance to retrieve the degraded forest and

bring it back to its natural profile. For achieving the above goal, camps have to

be established in these encroachment pockets for the subsequent 10 years. The

additional staff as projected against the increased number of beats due to its

reorganization for better protection would be utilized in the Protection and

Regeneration camps. The comments of Chief Conservator of Forests (Territorial)

on final report of IIFM, Bhopal on “Comprehensive man power study of the

Department of Environment & Forests, Andaman & Nicobar Islands” is placed as

Annexure E29.

However, despite all out efforts by the Department for augmenting

its infrastructure as well as manpower, nothing concrete could be achieved till

due to ban on creation of new post and procurement of new vehicles since

2002, even though the department had kept provisions in l0th, 11th & 12th

Five year plan.

In view of the above situation the following strength of frontline executive

staff are absolutely essential and a one-time relaxation for creation of new

posts may be obtained from the Government of India.


Name of the post

Additional strength required

Remarks

Forest guard 75 The additional strength will cater to the personnel required for additional beats, Protection camps in sensitive areas, Protection and regeneration camps in encroachment evicted areas, Forest stations, sub-stations and outposts.

Head Forest Guard

40

Forester 15

Deputy Ranger 15

Forest Rangers 5

Master First Class (NCV)

5 For manning sea worthy vessels. Engine Driver –

First Class 5

Further, besides manpower, a proper infrastructure is absolutely

essential for protection of the unique forest and wildlife keeping in view the

accessibility hurdles and limitations posed by the island condition and the

geographical terrain. For augmenting the following infrastructure, approval

from Govt. of India may be sought.

Infrastructure Required

Requirement (in No.)

Unit Cost (in Cr.)

Total Cost (in Cr.)

Remarks

Sea worthy Boats

05 10.00 50.00 MS class boats for patrolling up to 5 Nautical Miles from shore.

Fibre boats for plying in creeks

10 0.15 1.50 For patrolling in Creek areas all across the coast.

Patrolling Jeeps

20 0.07 1.40 For patrolling and protection in strategic


locations. VHF Stations

25 0.015 0.38 For proper communication

Establishment of Camps

40 0.05 2.00

To ensure proper and continuous vigilance and protection of the forest for further encroachments.

TOTAL 55.28

VHF facilities should be established in forest areas to ensure

connectivity with coastal forest areas. This facility can always be

useful for coastal security and can be availed by all enforcing agencies

for Coastal Security.

MS Class boats are very essential for protection of Forest along the

coastal stretch upto a distance of 5 NM, as the Coast Guard and Naval

Ships patrol beyond 5 NM.

Protection of creek areas are very important, as it is also used as

hideouts by foreign poachers who manage to sneak into forest areas

surreptitiously, escaping the attention of Navy and Coast Guard.

Post-1978 Forest encroachers are scattered into 167 pockets. For their

effective eviction and reclamation of the evicted land until its

regeneration to its natural profile, 40 forest camps /outpost should be

established that would function as both protection as well as

regeneration camp.


5.5 RECOMMENDATION

The excess land with the then pre-1978 in-situ forest encroachers

presently lying in the 19 de-reserved blocks, which are now Revenue

villages should be evicted and the ex-situ forest Pre-1978 be

accommodated as per previous plans. This should be done in

compliance with the Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 07.05.2002:

The ex-situ pre-1978 forest encroachers who have been allotted 01 Ha

land in the de-reserved block (now revenue village) should be evicted

from the forest area and they must occupy the allotted land in the de-

reserved pocket.

The above two actions are dependent upon the administration getting

the land vacated in the 19 dereserved blocks from the excess

possession of Pre-1978 forest encroachers (in-situ) and eviction of

post 1978 forest encroachers.

As far as the eviction of post-1978 forest encroachers of 19 dereserved

block is concerned, it hinges upon execution of the settlement plan of

A & N Administration which is pending with the Hon’ble Supreme

Court in the form of IA 2784. The administration should pursue the IA

with Hon’ble Court and take subsequent action as detailed in

recommendations under Terms of Reference of D.

Committee has also noted a vital point which has gone unnoticed so

far. The post-1978 forest encroachers who are occupying land in the

19 de-reserved block are neither covered in the list of Post-1978

revenue encroachers (prepared on the basis of encroachment register


of 2002) nor in the list of post-1978 forest encroachers (prepared on

the basis of survey of forest department done in the forest area in

2002-03). Therefore, the administration should include these post-

1978 forest encroachers (in the 19 de-reserved block) in the settlement

plan.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court has transferred IA 2686 of 2008 filed for

seeking permission for the use 432 ha of the forest land for the

settlement of 386 Pre-1978 forest encroachers whose land in the de-

reserved pocket was found unsuitable, to MoEF & CC with the

direction to consider the application in accordance with law as

expeditiously as possible.

The CEC in its reports has recommended for declaring the unsuitable

land (386 ha) as reserved forest. This Committee is of the view that

the A & N Administration should go ahead and issue necessary

notification in this regard, as this will enable the administration to

request CEC for favourable report in the matter of de-reservation of six

new blocks (432 ha).

Committee observed that there were certain limitations during

execution and those infirmities needs to be addressed during the

future execution of eviction drive in wake of the recommendation of the

committee. The following point needs to be considered.

Temporary camps may be put up at revenue area, as practically

as possible close to the forest encroachment pockets. All the

forest encroachers to be evicted may be first shifted to these


temporary camps before the eviction is carried out in the

respective forest encroachment pockets.

While carrying out eviction no structure, whatsoever should be

left standing, as was done during the last eviction drive in the

year 2002, perhaps due to a humane response to the cry of the

encroachers who were left roofless. This consideration on

humanitarian ground led to re-encroachment of the evicted land

by the same encroachers. Therefore, all structures, crops,

homesteads be demolished completely.

Transfer/shifting of the encroachers to the temporary camps

should precede the eviction. This would avoid unnecessary

resistance and emotional outburst particularly by women as

experienced during the last drive. This can be planned for

different pockets depending upon its size and its distance from

another encroachment pockets.

A proper and uniform procedure be adopted for taking in

custody individual plot after evicting the encroachers.

Protection and Regeneration camps may be established for

these encroachment pockets for the subsequent 10 years after

eviction till it is regenerated and brought close to its natural

profile.

The Administration may have provision of funds for establishing

temporary camps in the Revenue areas. These camps should be

designed with view to cater to the basic human needs. As these

camps are only temporary, strict timelines be made for stay in

such camps and strictly adhered to.

The committee is of the view that the following strength of frontline

executive staff are absolutely essential and recommends that the


Government of India may sanction the creation of the following

additional strength of different frontline staff as below.

Name of the post

Additional strength required

Remarks

Forest guard 75 The additional strength will cater to the personnel required for additional beats, Protection camps in sensitive areas, Protection and regeneration camps in encroachment evicted areas, Forest stations, sub-stations and outposts.

Head Forest Guard

40

Forester 15

Deputy Ranger 15

Forest Rangers 5

Master First Class (NCV)

5 For manning sea worthy vessels. Engine Driver –

First Class 5

The committee is of the opinion that a proper infrastructure is absolutely

essential for protection of this unique forest and wildlife in order to

overcome the inaccessibility problems and limitations posed by the

island condition and the geographical terrain. The committee

recommends that Govt. of India may sanction procurement of the

following vehicles, watercrafts, equipment etc. for augmenting the

infrastructure.


Infrastructure Required

Requirement (in No.)

Unit Cost (in Cr.)

Total Cost (in Cr.)

Remarks

Sea worthy Boats

05 10.00 50.00 MS class boats for patrolling up to 5 Nautical Miles from shore.

Fibre boats for plying in creeks

10 0.15 1.50 For patrolling in Creek areas all across the coast.

Patrolling Jeeps

20 0.07 1.40 For patrolling and protection in strategic locations.

VHF Stations

25 0.015 0.38 For proper communication

Establishment of Camps

40 0.05 2.00

To ensure proper and continuous vigilance and protection of the forest for further encroachments.

TOTAL 55.28

99 | P a g e TERMS OF REFERENCE: F

6 TERMS OF REFERENCE (F)

Examine the need, and efficacy, of a bill for preventing future

encroachment of revenue and forest lands including stiff penal

provisions. Any regulation made earlier in respect of encroachment of

forest and revenue land may be taken into account while examining the

issue.

6.1 REVENUE ENCROACHMENT

Historically, revenue encrochments in A &N Islands have been a

perennial issue which dates back to the penal settlement policy of the

British Government . The first revenue settlement was done in 1929

which created revenue records for the penal settlement. Thereafter, the

second Survey and Settlement operation was undetaken in 1961

wherein, large amount of excess land encroachment cases were found

in the old eight Municipal villages, because of which the revenue

records of these 08 villages could not be finalized. On the request of the

public and recommendation of the Chief Commissioner Advisory

Council, the Chief Commissioner A & N Islands vide circular dated

07/09/1966 condoned all the encroachments which happened prior to

1961. Although the circular could not be implemented but, it was the

first encroachment regularization scheme in A & N Islands.

The second encroachment regularization scheme for pre-1978

revenue encroachers came after the IDA meeting of 1986. This again

had come after a series of demands and agitations by the then MP

along with General Public which started from 1971 onwards, resulting

in formation of committees under Mr. M.K. Dalvi, Addl. IGF in 1979

and High Power Committee under CCF in 1982. In the second scheme a

large number of revenue encroachment cases (around 7212) were

approved by the end of 1989.


In the third scheme which started in 2003, the implementation

of the Chief Commissioner’s circular of 1966 was demanded in the IDA

meeting of 2003, after which the Ministry of Home Affairs vide letter

dated 15/07/2003 approved the scheme of regularization of excess

land upto 1961 occupied by pre-1942 settlers.

After the implementation of scheme for regularization of pre-1978

revenue encroachers, there was a demand for post-1978 revenue

encroachment regularization too. This was agreed by the

Administration when the resettlment plan for the same was submitted

to MHA in 2007. MHA approved the resettlement plan on 26/06/2009

wherein all post-1978 revenue encroachments (till 2002 ) were to be

regularized upto the ceiling of 200 Sq.mtrs. (Urban) and 340 Sq.mtrs.

(Rural).

Hence, there has been a history of continous encroachments and

its subsequent regularsiation by govt. in the last 60 years. Revenue

department has been facing major challenge in curbing these

encroachments.

The A & N Administration needs to employee multi pronged approach to

deal with this issue of encroachment through:-

a) Promulgation of strict legal provisions.

b) Augmentation and capacity building of revenue department.

c) Restructuring of revenue department and creation of task force for

encroachment removal.

d) Providing public housing and housing plots from time to time to

cater to the demand of dwelling units for the local population.


6.2 LEGAL PROVISIONS FOR REVENUE ENCROACHMENTS

Andaman and Nicobar Land Tenure Regulation (LTR) was promulgated

on 10th Feb. 1926. The regulation provided provisions for all basic

revenue operation including revenue survey and settlement under

which the revenue records for the penal settlement were created for the

first time in 1929. However, the regulation did not recognize

encroachment upon government land, neither provides for any legal

action against any such encroachments.

The LTR 1926 was replaced by Land Revenue and Land Reforms

Regulation 1966 (LR & LRR 1966) which has been substantially drawn

from the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code 1959. Rules were also

framed under the regulation in the year 1968, which has been amended

time to time as per the need of the time. Under LR & LRR 1966 there

are two major provisions for encroachment removal from govt. land.

1. SECTION 202: Penalty for un-authorized occupation of land

Sub section (1): Any person who un- authorizedly takes or remains

in possession of any unoccupied and or abadi may be summarily

ejected by order of the Tehsildar and any crop which may be

standing on the land and any building or other work which he may

have constructed thereon, if not removed by him within such time

as the Tehsildar may fix, shall be liable to be forfeited.

Sub section (8): If notice of an intention to institute a suit is

delivered to the Tehsildar, he shall desist from carrying out his

order under sub-section (1) for a period of three months, and if

such suit is filed within such period of three months, he shall stay

his proceedings pending the decision of the civil court.

As per legal requirement mentioned above, even if the

encroacher intimates the revenue staff about his intention to file a


civil suit at the time of eviction, the revenue staff is bound to stop

the eviction proceeding and keep it pending till the civil suit is

finally disposed off, which may take 5 to 10 years. This has created

a major legal hurdle in effective encroachment action.

2. SECTION 104: Removal of obstruction from common land.

If Tehsildar finds that any obstacle impedes the free use of a

recognized road, path or common land of a village, he may order

the person responsible for such obstacle to remove it, and, if such

person fails to comply with the order, may cause the obstacle to be

removed and may recover from such person the cost of removal

thereof.

Many of the existing roads and paths are not recorded as roads

in the revenue records for the want of regular revenue survey. The

problem is accentuated in PBMC area wherein the records have

not been finalized for more than 50 years. As the existing

road/path is not recorded as road in the revenue records, action

under section 104 of LR & LRR 1966 cannot be initiated by the

Tehsildar against such encroachments.

AMENDMENTS PROPOSED IN LAND REVENUE AND LAND REFORMS

REGULATION, 1966 FOR EFFECTING ACTION AGAINST ENCROACHMENT

A committee of the Deputy Commissioners of three District of A & N

Islands was constituted in 2014 to suggest amendments in LR & LRR,

especially for making it more effective against encroachments.

The committee had drafted the amendments. Strict provisions have

been kept for encroachment including making it non-bailable and


cognizable offence. The draft amendment is placed under Annexure

F1

The proposed draft was put for suggestions and objections and

subsequently the A & N Administration needs to send it to the Govt. of

India expeditiously for promulgation.

6.3 AUGMENTATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING OF REVENUE DEPARTMENT.

The entire land in A&N Island is divided into the Forest and Revenue

land. The Forest which constitutes about 92% of the land is

administered by the Forest department under the Indian Forest Act

1927 & other related Acts leaving about only 8% of the area for

Human Settlement which is administered by the Revenue

Department under the provisions of LR & LRR 1966 and LR & LRR

Rules 1968. Revenue Department is the custodian of Revenue land

and is concerned with all land disposals in the districts such as the

work relating to land assignment, land acquisition, alienation of land,

updating and maintenance of Land Revenue Records, grant of Pattas,

Land Reforms, etc.

However the functions of revenue department are not limited to the

ones assigned in the LR & LRR 1966 and LR & LRR rules 1968. Each

revenue district is headed by a Deputy Commissioner, who is also

vested with the powers of District Magistrate. He also performs

statutory functions under following Acts:

Arms Act.

Cinematography Act.

Inland Vessel Act,1917

Indian Citizenship Act

Indian Partnership Act

Society Registration Act

Special Marriage Act


Explosive Act

News Paper Registration

Registrar of Companies, Companies Act, 1956

Registrar under Indian Registration Act.

A&N Island (Protection of Aboriginal tribes) Regulation 1956

Disaster Management Act.

He is, further, assisted by the Asstt. Commissioners and other

sundry officials in the following hierarchy:

There is one survey and settlement wing of the revenue

department as well which is headed by the Settlement Commissioner

who is further assisted by the Settlement Officer/ Asstt.

Commissioner (Settlement). The survey and settlement wing performs

following functions:

To conduct survey/re-survey works Finalization of Land records of revenue survey works. Regularization Encroachment cases and realization of premium.

ADM/ AC’s / AC (S)

TEHSILDAR/TEHSILDAR

(SETTLEMENT)/Land Record Officer

DEPUTY TEHSILDAR

REVENUE INSPECTOR/ S & D

PATWARI / SURVEYOR

CHOUDHARI / Rev. Field Assistant


Setting full fledge IT Cell with GIS facilities for digitalization of village maps, Records of Rights, Field measurement Books.

Therefore, it may well be said that in every walk of the common

man's need, the participation of Revenue Department cannot be

underestimated. This is the department, which touches upon almost

all aspects of a Citizen’s life, and the performance of this department

is an important parameter to judge the effectiveness of the

governance system in the Islands. Despite its best effort, its

effectiveness is hampered by the following factors:

Shortage of Manpower: The combined sanctioned strength

and vacancy position of key revenue officials at the District level is as

follows.

The effectiveness of revenue department is heavily dependent

on the efficiency of the key field functionaries such as Patwari,

Surveyor Revenue Field Assistant etc. As can be seen from the table

above there is shortage of manpower at these posts thereby causing

each Patwari to look after two to three Patwari circles.

Similarly, the shortage of surveyors is resulting into hampering

of the survey work in declared local areas and hundreds of

demarcations cases are pending at Tehsil level. Because of this, the

land records cannot be finalized on time.

SL NO.

Name of Post Total Sanctioned Strength

Total Post Filled

Total Post Vacant

1 Tehsildar 13 05 08 2 Deputy Tehsildar 07 04 03 3 Revenue Inspector/ALRO 25 21 04 4 Survey & Draftsman 17 17 Nil 5 Surveyor 44 30 14 6 Draughtsman 04 03 01 7 Patwari 57 38 19 8 Revenue Field Assistant 120 86 34


All this create a bad image of Revenue Department among the

general public as their day to day work gets hampered/ delayed for

the want of land records, reports from field functionaries,

demarcation etc.

The committee strongly recommends that all the vacant posts

of Revenue staff should be immediately filled up. The effectiveness of

the District Administration, being the face of A&N Administration,

majorly depends upon the revenue staff.

1. Lack of resources:

a). In order to discharge the duties assigned to the Patwari, he has to travel

a lot in his respective jurisdiction. However no government vehicle is

provided to the Patwari to facilitate the travel because of official work

which results in either undue financial burden on government official or

the work itself gets compromised because of inability of the government

official to move timely.

The committee recommends that all Revenue Inspectors /

Patwaris should be provided two wheelers and the Tehsildars /

Deputy Tehsildars should be given four wheelers.

b) The nature of work of revenue department is such that every

functionary from top to bottom is required to make himself available 24X7 so as to attend the emergent work for which they require communication equipment such as mobile phone. Presently all the functionaries are using their personal mobile phones at their own expense which is again an undue financial burden on them.

Hence, the committee recommends that the revenue staff

should be provided with laptops, wi-fi and mobile bills to a certain limit should be reimbursed by the Administration. Further, as the job profile of Revenue Department involves 24x7 functioning,


therefore, the committee recommends that all the Revenue staff should be given one month additional salary every year (13 months) just like other emergency services department like Fire and Police.

6.4 RESTRUCTURING OF REVENUE DEPARTMENT AND CREATION OF TASK

FORCE FOR ENCROACHMENT REMOVAL.

The department of Revenue is having direct interface with people. They are associated with the multifarious type of works other than their routine revenue work.

Although the other departments have expanded their organizational

set up by expansion of the Department/post like the police

department now expanded their Police Stations up to 24 with

approximate manpower of 6000, but the revenue dept. still have the

9 tehsil from last four decades. Although the new district is formed

but the number of Tehsil continue to be remain same. Hence in

order to have the effective governance at field level it is proposed to

increase the number of Tehsil from 9 to 15. With the sanction post

of 19 Tehsildars and 38 Deputy Tehsildars.

No .of present Tehsils

No. of proposed new Tehsil

No of present post of Tehsild

ar

No of proposed post of

Tehsildar

No of present post of Deputy

Tehsildar

No of proposed post of Deputy Tehsildar

9 15 13 19 7 38

No of present post of RIs

No of proposed post of RIs

No of present post of Patwaris

No of proposed post of Patwaris

No of present post of S&D

No of proposed post of S&D

No of present post of Surveyor

No of proposed post of Surveyor

25

35

57

104

17

32

44

74


Creation of tehsils and sanctioning of post is a lengthy process which

will take a long time, hence till completion of above the work could be

somehow managed by restructuring the present sanction strength

amongst the revenue staff.

1. The organization structure of the revenue department resembles

almost like an “Inverse Pyramid”, making stagnation in posts and

resulting in inordinate delay in promotions to the revenue staff

lesser satisfaction levels in employees as well as playing a

detrimental role in attending desired level of service delivery.

Which could be avoided if the present strength is restructured

properly and give them suitable opportunity in promotions. Which

will also enable the department to achieve the desired level of

performance/output from the revenue staff.

2. The present structure of Revenue and Survey staffs in the revenue

department is as under:

60% 40%

Tehsildar- 13 posts

(60% direct recruitment 8 posts &

40% promotion 5 posts)

Deputy Tehsildar

07 posts

Revenue

Inspector/ALRO

24+1 (25) posts

Surveyor &

Draftsman 17

posts

Patwari 57 posts Surveyor/computers/Draftsman

44+02+04 = 50 posts


3. The re-structuring of Revenue cadre is very much essential in

the present scenario. Nowhere in other state the post of

Tehsildar/Deputy Tehsildar is directly recruited expect in

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where out of the sanctioned

strength of 13 posts, 60% i.e. 08 posts is reserved for Direct

Recruitment and 40% i.e. 05 posts on promotion. As such the

feeder cadre Revenue staffs are stagnating.

Now, it is proposed to re-structure the Revenue cadre of

the Revenue Department by transferring/diverting posts from

the same cadre which is as under:

I. To increase the post of Deputy Tehsildar from the

existing sanctioned strength of 07 posts to 19 posts by

transferring /diverting the post from Tehsildar 04 posts

Direct Recruitment and from Surveyors 08 posts. As

such the total strength of Deputy Tehsildar would be 19

posts, out of which feeder cadre (Revenue side 60% and

Survey side 40%). The RRs for the post Deputy Tehsildar

is to be amended.

II. To increase the post Patwari from existing sanctioned

strength of 57 posts to 61 posts by

transferring/diverting the 04 posts from Surveyor. The

RRs for the post of Patwari and Surveyor is to be

amended. The flow chart after re-structuring should be

as under the Revenue cadre:


60% 40%

By re-structuring the Revenue cadre as mentioned above, the

promotional avenue of the Revenue/Survey staffs would be in higher

which gives them satisfaction level so as to attain desired level of

service delivery from them.

Beside above the restructuring of revenue cadre is very much

essential in the present scenario. Nowhere in other state is the post of

Tehsildar under direct recruitment expect in Andaman and Nicobar

Administration. Out of the sanctioned strength of 13 posts, 60% i.e. 08

posts is under direct recruitment and 40% i.e. 05 posts on promotion.

Due to the lesser posts in the promotional quota of Tehsildar the feeder

cadre staffs i.e. Revenue Inspectors/Surveyor & Draftsman are

stagnating in their present grade for so many years.

Now, it is proposed that the 04 posts of Tehsildars from the direct

recruitment quota are to be transferred and merged with the post of

Deputy Tehsildar, so that the stagnation may remove.

Tehsildar – 9 posts

Deputy Tehsildar – 19 posts

Revenue Inspector/ALRO

24+1 (25 posts)

Surveyor & Draftsman/Revenue

Draftsman

17 posts

Patwari 61 posts Surveyor/Draftsman/computer

36+4+4 = 44


Proposal for constitution Development Authority for Land Development & implementation of Master Plans and Development Plans in A&N Islands PORT BLAIR PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (PBPDA)

For implementation of Master Plan for PBPA, a Separate Authority-

an Advisory Body i.e. Port Blair Planning and Development Authority

(PBPDA) was constituted vide Gazette Notification No. 181 dated

07/08/2012 As per the provisions Clause No. 6.4 & 6.5 of Master

Plan for PBPA and powers were devolved to various agency like ULB

& PRI for issue of Planning Permission and Approval of Building Plan.

As such the PBPDA draws its powers from Master Plan for PBPA

and plays an advisory role for implementation of Master Plan for

PBPA.PBPDA consists of Secretaries/Officers from various

Departments of Administration and ULB &PRI members as detailed

below:

Sl. No Designation of the Officers Position

1. Chief Secretary A & N Administration Chairman

2. Commr-cum-Secy (PWD/UD) Vice Chairman

3. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Member

4. Director General of Police Member 5. Principal Secretary (Power) Member 6. Secretary (Tourism) Member 7. Secretary (Fisheries) Member

8. Chief Engineer, APWD & Town Planner Member

9. Member nominated by Commander-in-Chief Member

10. Secretary (Civil Aviation) Member

11. Chief Conservator of Forests (FC&CZ) (representating Coastal Zone Management

Member


Sl. No Designation of the Officers Position

Development Authority)

12 to 14

Deputy Commissioners of the 3 districts

Members

15. Co-opted members to be decided by the Chairman, PBPDA at the time of convening of Authority meeting.

Member

20. Town & Country Planner Member Secretary

The functions of PBPDA are as below:

i. Framing policies and strategies towards implementation of Master Plan

ii. Deal with change of land use and reclassification

iii. Dealing with sectoral agencies for land acquisition towards implementation of

physical projects identified in the plan

iv. Review and revision of Master Plan for Port Blair Planning Area

v. Review the powers delegated to the local bodies both Port Blair Municipal

Council and Gram Panchayats and issue necessary direction for proper

enforcement of Master Plan.

vi. Any other functions to be assigned by the Hon’ble Lt. Governor from time to

time, in connection with enforcement of the provision of the Master Plan for Port

Blair Planning Area.


PROPOSED ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS PLANNING AND LAND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (ANIPDA)

Based on the model followed elsewhere in the country like Chennai

Metropolitan Development Authority and Delhi Development Authority etc.

the proposal was conceived for constitution of a new body called Andaman &

Nicobar Islands Planning and Land Development Authority to deal with

planned development of land, housing and preparation and implementation of

Master Plans with following members:

Sl. No

Designation of the Officers Position

1. Chief Secretary Chairman 2. Director General of Police Member 3. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Member

4. Principal Secretary (UD) Member 5. Principal Secretary (Finance) Member

6. Principal Secretary (Revenue) Member

7. Commr-cum-Secretary (PWD/Power) Vice Chairman & CEO 8. Secretary (Industries) Member 9. Secretary (Transport) Member 10. Secretary (Tourism) Member 11. Chief Engineer, APWD& Town Planner Member

12. Deputy Commissioners of 3 districts Members

13. Secretary, PBMC Member 14. Director, RD, PRI &ULB Member 15. Chief Executive Officer, ZillaParishad Member 16. Member Secretary, Pollution Control Committee Member

17. Town & Country Planner, APWD Member Secretary

The functions of the proposed authority are as below:


1. To carry out the survey of entire A&N Islands and notify Planning

Areas.

2. To prepare Master Plans and Detailed Development Plans.

3. To prepare New Town or Special Area Development Plans and other

Plans

4. To implement the proposals contemplated in the Master Plans and

other Development Plans.

5. Protection of land against encroachments and development of land

for housing and other projects to cater to the needs of the general

public.

6. To perform such other functions as may be assigned by the

Administration.

THE WAY FORWARD

It was discussed that, an official may be appointed as Officer on Special

Duty (OSD) to finalized the constitution, staffing requirement, functions, seed

capital requirements for operationalization of the proposed authority, who

may assisted by a committee of three or four officials from the Administration.

The selling of developed land requires approval of the cabinet. The OSD

appointed will work out all modalities for constitution of Authority including

Cabinet Note.

The committee also noticed that there are large scale violations of

master plan all across the district. Hence, the committee recommends that

Deputy Commissioners should be declared as “Town Planner” under section

17, 18 and 21 of A & N Town and Country Planning Regulation 1994. This

would ensure action against the defaulters as the revenue machinery is

geared up to take action against such violations which the current setup is

unable to do.


FOREST ENCROACHMENT

A. Amendment in the Indian Forest Act, 1927

The enactment of the Indian Forest Act dates back to the year 1927

and in these 90 years there has not been a single amendment and many of

the provisions contained therein, have lost relevance and deterrence against

illegal activities and are quite ineffective for efficient regulation of forestry

activities in the present context. A need for amendment has long been felt

to make it effective to address the current challenges and threat to this

unique forest of the country.

This fact can be perceived in the recommendation of the Prof.

Shekhar Singh’s report. The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated

23.11.2001 in I.A. No. 502 of 1999 in W.P No 202 of 1995 appointed Prof.

Shekhar Singh as Commissioner to submit a report on the State of Forests

and other allied matters in A & N Islands. Prof. Shekhar Singh in his report

has made the following recommendations;

Recommendation No 20: The forest officials in the ANI should be given

requisite powers to do this, including:

Power of summary eviction of encroachments: as in the case of

Madhya Pradesh, vide section 80A, IFA, 1927

Magisterial powers to Assistant Conservator of Forests: The

Assistant Conservator of Forests should be appointed as executive

magistrates/ special executive magistrates in order to oversee the

evictions carried out by the Range Officers on receipt of orders of

eviction from the Estate Officers.

Recommendation No 22: In order ….. In addition, entry to the more

vulnerable and forested areas of the Islands should be restricted.


Recommendation No 30: The Forest Department should be immediately

strengthened in order to be able to effectively prevent poaching.

In order to make the provisions under Indian Forest Act, 1927 more

deterrent and effective to thwart illegal activities and encroachment, and in

pursuance of the recommendation by Prof. Shekhar Singh, a proposal for

amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927 titled “The Andaman and Nicobar

Islands (Amendment to the Indian Forest Act) Regulation, 2004” was

submitted to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change by the A

& N Administration vide Chief Secretary D.O.No. F.Legal/SSR/3/223(A)

dated 07.07.2003 (Annexure ‘F2’). There has been no positive outcome so

far.

With a view to restrict entry to the more vulnerable forest of the

Islands, as recommended by Prof. Shekhar Singh (recommendation no 22),

the existing provisions restricting trespassing and other activities in Forest

land (Reserved Forest and Protected Forest) have been recommended to be

made strict and deterrent in the amendment proposal. Strict and stringent

provisions in Section-26 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 that restricts activity

in Reserved Forest and quantum of punishment for its violation, Section-33,

IFA, 1927 that prescribes punishment for violation of Rules made for

Protected Forest have been proposed, similar to the existing provisions in the

Forest Act of different states of the Country.

As recommended by Prof. Shekhar Singh, provision of Section 80A as

has been done in the State of Madhya, has also been included in the

amendment proposal. This section empowers the Forest Officer, not below the

rank of Divisional Forest officer to summarily evict the encroachment after

serving a show cause notice.

The existing Forest Law (IFA 1927) is not effective to check the problem

of forest encroachment. As per the provisions of the Act, the punishment


prescribed is upto 6 months imprisonment or fine upto Rs. 500/- for fresh

clearance of forests for agriculture purposes in reserved forest or protected

forest. There is no provision for summary eviction of forest encroachments.

In the proposed amendment to the Indian Forest Act the punishment

prescribed is upto 2 years imprisonment or fine upto Rs. 5000/- under

Section 26 and 33 of IFA. Further the provisions of summary eviction of forest

encroachments have been proposed under Section 80 A.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The proposed amendment of Indian Forest Act, 1927 which includes

higher punishment for violations of various sections related to forest

encroachments as well as provisions for summary eviction to Forest

Officers requires immediate attention. These provisions are effective

for combating forest offences and prevention of forest encroachments.

The Committee recommends that the Govt. of India may approve the

amendment at the earliest.

Documents

report of the committee on land matters in andaman and