The Gram Sabha, and How a Right Is Recognised

In one line

The village assembly starts the claim and draws the map, two committees above it decide, and the district's decision is final and binding.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 6(1) provides that the Gram Sabha shall be the authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights, by receiving claims, consolidating and verifying them and preparing a map delineating the area of each recommended claim, and shall pass a resolution and forward a copy to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee; section 6(6) provides that the decision of the District Level Committee on the record of forest rights shall be final and binding; and section 6(8) requires each of the three committees to consist of officers of the departments of Revenue, Forest and Tribal Affairs and three members of the Panchayati Raj Institutions at the appropriate level, of whom two shall be Scheduled Tribe members and at least one shall be a woman.

Section 5: the duty on the holder

The holders of any forest right, the Gram Sabha and village level institutions are empowered to

protect the wild life, forest and biodiversity;

ensure that adjoining catchment areas, water sources and other ecologically sensitive areas are adequately protected;

ensure that the habitat of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers is preserved from any form of destructive practices affecting their cultural and natural heritage; and

ensure that the decisions taken in the Gram Sabha to regulate access to community forest resources and to stop any activity which adversely affects the wild animals, forest and the biodiversity are complied with.

Notice the verb. The section says "empowered to", not "shall". It is drafted as a conferral of authority rather than as an obligation, which is the drafting choice that made it possible to argue that the village is being given a power of enforcement rather than a duty of good behaviour.

Read it against Ostrom's second principle. Appropriation and provision rules must be congruent, so that the cost of maintaining the resource falls where its benefit falls. Section 3 gives the benefit and section 5 gives the maintenance to the same body.

And read section 5(d) as the enforcement clause. The Gram Sabha may regulate access to the community forest resource and stop any activity which adversely affects the wild animals, forest and the biodiversity, and the holders are empowered to see that its decisions are complied with.

Section 6: the three tiers

Tier one, the Gram Sabha. It initiates the process. It receives claims, consolidates and verifies them, prepares a map delineating the area of each recommended claim, passes a resolution, and forwards a copy to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee.