New Delhi, Nov. 7 -- 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 and Tamil Nadu's principal chief conservator of forests, to oversee the determination of claims by forest-dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers . The committee will scrutinise the orders passed by competent authorities under the FRA and submit its findings to the court in a sealed cover. The court directed the state to complete the constitution of the remaining Gram Sabhas within 30 days and conclude the entire process of inviting and adjudicating claims through the statutory three-tier mechanism within five months of their constitution. The committee, in turn, has been asked to complete its scrutiny within two months of the expiry of this outer deadline. "Apparently thus, the process under Section 6 was never initiated for years even after the lifting of the stay and seems to have been triggered only after this Court took suo moto cognizance of the prevailing situation," it said. The committee has been empowered to issue necessary directions to authorities for expeditious disposal of claims. The state will also have to submit monthly progress reports to it....