THE EMINENT DOMAIN VIS-À-VIS THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO NORTH EASTERN STATES OF INDIA

Abstract [English]

The Sixth Schedule and Articles 371A, 371B, 371C, 371G, and 371H have conferred the North Eastern States of India with customary autonomy and self-government, including ownership and transfer of land. The acquisition of land for infrastructural development by the State has been debated in the interface of Eminent domain, a legal principle that allows the government to take private property for public use, with compensation. This principle overlaps with the customary ownership of land by the tribal people. On one hand the Constitution has conferred the tribal people with absolute protection of customary rights while on the other hand the application of Eminent domain have also caused erosion of customary rights and displacement of tribal communities. Further, the developmental schemes of the State is delayed and frustrated in the conflict between the customary law and the statutory law. This paper endeavors to examine the legal framework and the role of judiciary in harmonizing the conflict between Eminent domain of the State with the customary and Constitutional rights of tribal communities of the North Eastern States.