Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court has ordered the Centre and the State government to hold a joint meeting and finalize the members of a fact-finding committee to address the declining tribal population in the state by October 1. The court’s order, issued on September 20, was made public on its website today.
A division bench, comprising Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai, noted in its 32-page order that the issue of declining tribal demography is impacting the population dynamics of Jharkhand. The court highlighted concerns about infiltration being a contributing factor to the population decline, stating that Jharkhand was created with a significant tribal majority when it became a state in 2000.
The court directed both the Centre and the State to file affidavits by September 30, confirming the formation of the committee. The fact-finding committee is expected to investigate the causes of infiltration and its impact on the tribal population. The court emphasized that this is a necessary step to understand the problem and develop curative measures.
The Jharkhand government admitted that infiltration is a key issue, particularly from neighbouring states with international borders. However, the state expressed its inability to prevent the influx on its own. The court urged the Union Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary to meet and discuss both preventive and curative measures.
Meanwhile, Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan announced that the state government has already challenged the High Court’s earlier order from September 17 and plans to challenge the latest ruling in the Supreme Court. The state is not in favour of forming a fact-finding committee.
