New Delhi, Nov. 6 -- The Supreme Court on Friday appointed former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai to head a special committee that will scrutinise orders passed by authorities in Tamil Nadu under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA), even as it came down hard on the state government for its prolonged failure to initiate the statutory process to identify and adjudicate the claims of forest dwellers in the ecologically sensitive Agasthyamalai landscape.

A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta constituted the committee, comprising Justice Gavai as chairperson, an officer of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and Tamil Nadu's principal chief conservator of forests, to oversee the determination of claims by Forest-Dwell...