Nitin Sethi | TNN Who is opposed to the Forest Rights Act meant to recognize rights of tribals and others over forest lands? Besides the staunch wildlife NGOs and activists, it seems the other group dead set against the Act is the retired forest officials. Now one more petition has been filed by another set of retired forest officials in the Orissa high court against the implementation of the Act. The sixth petition now sitting in the state high courts is by an ex-zamindar of the land what is now a tiger reserve and has tribals living in it. To make the matter murkier, even the fifth petition, filed in the Orissa high court is an almost facsimile version of all others filed earlier. TOI had earlier reported how the petitions filed in various high courts were straight lifts from each other. A very indicative submission in the Orissa petition states, "Forest Department is the custodian of forest lands and of the records of each forest. The impugned (Forest) Act provides the mechanism in the form of Gram Sabha to receive and process the claims and make recommendations. Gram Sabha is not represented by any forest officer and in turn, Gram Sabha does not process any records or (has) any knowledge of forest rules.' While the petitions are filed by retired forest officials, the forest bureaucracy has been largely against the Act from the beginning with the environment ministry putting up a stiff battle against the implementation of the Act that many in the forestry circuits think would destroy forests. Others contend it would diminish the supremacy of the forest bureaucracy over forest lands. All the five petitions using almost similar language, submit that even the Act had not cut ice even with the National Forest Commission. They also refer to how the implementation of the Act contravenes international conventions that India is signatory to. Besides these, several other arguments are replicated across all the five petitions making it obvious that there is a singular source of opposition to the Act in the HCs. With the apex court hearing two petitions against the Act and the government also keen on coalescing all the cases into one in Delhi, chances are that all the petitioners could finally find their way to the Capital when the next round of battle begins.