India Needs a Forest Rights Appellate Tribunal for Fair Claims Review

Environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta argues that the Forest Rights Act must be amended to create a Forest Rights Appellate Tribunal, providing tribal communities with a statutory right to appeal district-level decisions on forest claims. Currently, 0.7 million claims remain pending with no deadline for adjudication, and aggrieved forest dwellers must approach high courts — often an impossible financial and physical burden.

Under the existing claims process, gram sabhas initiate and resolve claims, which then pass through the Sub-Divisional Level Committee and the District Level Committee for final decision. While claimants can petition the SDLC within 60 days of a gram sabha resolution, there is no statutory timeline within which the SDLC or DLC must rule. The DLC's decision is described as 'final and binding,' with the only recourse being a high court writ petition under Article 226 — an avenue inaccessible to most forest-dwelling communities.

The distinction between judicial review and merit review lies at the heart of the case for a tribunal. High courts exercising writ jurisdiction examine the decision-making process, not the factual merits of individual forest rights claims. Yet FRA claims are fundamentally factual determinations — questions of whether a person or community has historically used or occupied a particular forest area. A tribunal with merit review powers could assess these facts directly, providing more substantive protection for claimants.

With nearly 0.7 million claims pending as of 2026 and no upper-tier appellate body above the DLC, the structural gap in FRA enforcement is growing. Dutta proposes that the Forest Rights Appellate Tribunal be bound to hear and decide all appeals within defined timelines, replacing the current reliance on discretionary high court access. The proposal would require a legislative amendment to the FRA and political will to constrain the bureaucratic power currently concentrated in the hands of district collectors.

Key figure — 0.7 million FRA claims pending (2026)