the goan I network
MARGAO
An enraged Tribal Welfare Minister Govind Gaude has threatened to publicly expose government officers if they fail to dispose of the huge backlog of pending cases under the Tribal Forest Act
by January 31.
The Minister said that the government officers have either not understood the features of the Tribal Forest Act or are deliberately putting delaying the implementation of the Act, which would have benefited a large number of Scheduled Tribes spread
across the state.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a program at the district library here on Friday, Gaude said, “I have handed out a strict warning to the officers handling cases under the Tribal Forest Act. I have given them a deadline of January 31 to dispose of as many cases as possible. If not, I will expose these officers before
the media.”
Saying that implementation of the Tribal Forest Act is not receiving the support of the officials, Gaude pointed out that he has been after the officials for the past 20 months, but in vain.
“Implementation of the Tribal Forest Act is not with the Tribal welfare department, but with the revenue and forest departments,” he said, while hoping that the officials will take cognizance of his warning and act swiftly.
Saying he has no knowledge whether these officials are working for the benefit of the common man Gawde warned “if the officials cannot mete out justice for the common man, we will look at other options.”
Saying that the cases under the Tribal Forest Act are awaiting disposal for years now, he lamented that only a few cases has been disposed
of till date.
“There are a total of 10,064 cases pending under the Act. Of these, there may be around 30-35 per cent cases which can be resolved if the officials dispose off the cases which are not disputed,” he added.
