Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 and Its Role in Protection of Tribal Land Rights

Abstract

Land is at the root cause of many litigation both civil and criminal in the Subordinate Courts. Albeit Chota Nagpur plateau being in the midst of regions of Jharkhand,
has long history of settled life, it never had any strong centralized system of governance and different tribal communities were independently governing their own
villages through their indigenous systems. Chota Nagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, a legal document, enacted in 1908 after the Birsa Movement to govern land issues and
prevent land alienation, is supposed to be the Magna Carta for tribals. Present developments have brought in a paradigm shift in mandatory acquisition of tribal land
to foster imposition of various developmental projects by the state. In the light of such change in notion of development, highly contentious legal instrument is
witnessing a drastic change which is apprehensive of rapid structural mechanisms of land alienation and further exploitation of tribals. The century old veteran Act,
if appreciated and implemented in its letter and spirit, still capable of protection of Tribals is on the verge of amendment in the consonance of state’s notion of
development. In the light of aforementioned context, the present paper is an attempt to provide with the detailed critical analysis of the pro-tribal provisions in the
aforementioned Act and contemporary changes being brought out. Researcher has attempted to give comprehensive as well as exhaustive understanding of loopholes
in the present Act and has also tried to address the contemporary issues by suggesting normative reforms to foster Access to Justice to Tribals.