Bhubaneswar, June 13: The Odisha scheduled castes and scheduled tribes development department today sought fresh opinion from the law department following the Centre’s objections to the decision to hold gram sabhas at 12 villages in the proposed Niyamgiri mining belt.

A law department official said they were examining the Centre’s letter in the light of the Supreme Court judgment on April 18.

The department had suggested the gram sabhas be conducted at 12 villages of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts to elicit public opinion on mining of the hills. The apex court had said to leave it to local people to take the final call.

A delegation of local tribal people yesterday urged governor S.C. Jamir to ensure that gram sabhas were held at all the villages to ascertain claims and rights of the communities across Niyamgiri. “The government must stop fear and intimidation tactics used by armed security forces in the Niyamgiri hills to help Vedanta Group,” a delegation member said.

The tribals also urged the governor to stop all Vedanta activities in the area till the gram sabhas were conducted.

The Vedanta Group, which has set up a one-million-tonne refinery at Lanjigarh, has applied to the Centre for its clearance for bauxite mining on Niyamgiri hills. In August 2010, the Centre had rejected the Stage-II forest clearance for diversion of forest land for bauxite mining in the hills spread over Kalahandi and Rayagada districts.

Affirming the decision-making power of the village councils of Rayagada and Kalahandi under the Forest Rights Act, the Supreme court had stated that the gram sabhas should “take a decision...within three months” on any claims of “cultural, religious, community and individual rights” that the forest dwellers of the region might have.

In a letter to Odisha chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik, Union tribal affairs secretary Vibha Puri Das had said that the gram sabhas should not be restricted to only 12 villages. Locals from Kalahandi and Rayagada had made representations, seeking their involvement in the process of public hearing.

Das said: “The Supreme Court has not alluded to or limited the application of the act in the project areas to any specific number of villages under any paragraph of the judgment. Therefore, any interpretation to the contrary would simply be an incorrect interpretation.”

The Centre also made it clear that limiting the convening of the gram sabhas to 12 villages was not in accordance with the Supreme Court order. The ministry’s letter had further said the Odisha government could not arbitrarily decide on the list of villages, where rights of forest dwellers were guaranteed under the act or where cultural and religious rights were likely to be affected.

“It is to be decided by the people — palli sabha — where claims would be filed through a transparent manner, so that no legitimate claim is left out of the process,” it said.