Coal Block Expansion, Untitled Tribal Families and a 45-Day Lease Deadline
You are Collector of Singrauli district. A captive coal block expansion requires 212 hectares across two villages, affecting 340 families, of whom 96 belong to the Sahariya particularly vulnerable tribal group. The gram sabha resolution records consent, but 41 families allege they were coerced and 28 families hold no land title, having cultivated forest land for decades. The company offers Rs 12 lakh per hectare plus one job per family, but only nine of the offered posts are skilled and the rest are contractual. A primary school on the acquired plot serves 180 children, and no budget exists for a new building. The state's lease renewal deadline is 45 days away; missing it would put 4,000 existing jobs at the linked thermal plant at risk. The local MLA demands immediate possession, while a tribal rights group has complained to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
1. How should you handle the 28 untitled families and the disputed consent before allowing possession?
Read the worked answer
Do not treat possession as a binary choice between signing today and stopping the project. First, separate the two issues: title and consent. For the 28 families, the correct sequence is to refer their claims for recognition of forest rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, through the gram sabha and the district-level committee, and to record their cultivation evidence. Until that process concludes, their rehabilitation entitlement cannot be extinguished merely because they lack a revenue record. For consent, a fresh, independently videographed gram sabha should be held with Sahariya interpreters present and with the dissenting 41 families heard.
A conditional, phased handover is the defensible middle path: permit possession only of the portion free of disputed claims, withhold the rest, and make the company's lease renewal conditional on depositing the full rehabilitation cost with the district administration. This protects the 4,000 existing jobs without converting administrative urgency into coercion. The reasoning is that the deadline is real but not a legal licence to override statutory consent; a court or the NCST will otherwise freeze the entire lease, costing more than a phased start.
2. What should be done about the school and the employment promise, and what values guide the trade-off?
Read the worked answer
School: The 180 children cannot be left without a functioning school. Before possession, obtain a written commitment from the company and the education department to construct or hand over an equivalent building within one academic year, with temporary transport or a rented structure funded from the project's social obligation budget. The school land should be excluded from the first phase of handover.
Employment: The offer of one job per family is misleading if most posts are contractual and unskilled. Insist on a transparent skills audit, a minimum share of permanent posts, and a funded training programme for Sahariya youth, with the district administration monitoring the list. Record the commitment in the rehabilitation agreement rather than accepting a verbal assurance.
The guiding values are equity, non-discrimination and accountability: the project's economic benefit is legitimate, but it cannot be purchased by shifting its costs onto a vulnerable group. A short delay with enforceable conditions is preferable to a legally fragile approval that produces litigation and lasting distrust.