The Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (HABSS) has strongly opposed the Chhattisgarh High Court’s decision to uphold the cancellation of Community Forest Rights (CFR) granted to Ghatbarra village in Surguja district, calling the verdict “troubling” and “deeply disappointing.” The organisation said this marks the first time in India that a community forest right has been revoked, setting a dangerous precedent for forest-dwelling communities across the country.
The High Court single-judge bench dismissed the petition on October 8, stating that HABSS lacked the legal standing to challenge the revocation. In response, HABSS argued that the court disregarded key evidence including individual affidavits and a resolution signed by over 200 villagers confirming their right to be represented by the organisation. The group said that if the very residents whose rights were cancelled have no locus to challenge it, “then who else would?”
The court also remarked that since much of the forest land has already been cleared, compensation in money could address the issue a reasoning that the petitioners found deeply worrying. HABSS said this approach legitimises past illegalities simply because time has passed, reducing the question of forest rights to monetary value instead of recognising them as historical entitlements.
The statement also criticised the court for failing to consider whether the Parsa East Kete Basen (PEKB) coal block, operated by a joint venture with Adani Enterprises as the majority owner, had valid forest clearance. The National Green Tribunal had earlier cancelled this clearance, and the company’s appeal in the Supreme Court was later withdrawn. The petitioners pointed out that no Gram Sabha consent a mandatory condition for forest diversion was ever obtained for mining in Ghatbarra’s forest area.
HABSS warned that the ruling sets a harmful precedent by burdening local communities with the responsibility to protect their own rights, while allowing companies to bypass consent and compliance procedures. “It reduces the Gram Sabha consent process to an empty formality,” the conveners said.
Ghatbarra was among the first villages in Chhattisgarh to receive official recognition of its Community Forest Rights in 2013, covering 810 hectares of land. The rights included grazing, collecting firewood, and harvesting minor forest produce activities that make up nearly 60 percent of local livelihoods, according to a 2021 Wildlife Institute of India report.
However, the village also falls within the PEKB coal block area. The project received forest clearance in 2012, a year before the village’s CFR recognition, in violation of government rules requiring settlement of all forest rights and Gram Sabha consent before clearance. In 2016, the District Level Forest Rights Committee revoked Ghatbarra’s CFR title after a complaint from the mining company, claiming the rights hindered mining operations.
HABSS’s legal challenge to this revocation argued that CFRs are not new rights granted by the government but formal recognition of long-standing traditional rights. “By cancelling a recognised forest right on technical grounds, the court has reversed the very purpose of the Forest Rights Act to correct historical injustices faced by tribal and forest-dwelling communities,” the group said.
The organisation warned that if such rulings become precedent, they could weaken community rights across India’s forest regions and embolden mining companies to override legal safeguards meant to protect indigenous livelihoods and cultural heritage.