Under which Schedule of the Constitution of India can the transfer of tribal land to private parties for mining be declared null and void?

The correct answer is B) Fifth Schedule. Paragraph 5 of the Fifth Schedule lets the Governor prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of Scheduled Tribes in Scheduled Areas. In Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1997), the Supreme Court held that leasing tribal land in Scheduled Areas to private companies for mining was void, reading the Fifth Schedule together with PESA, 1996.

• A) Third Schedule is wrong. It prescribes forms of oaths and affirmations for constitutional functionaries.
• C) Ninth Schedule is wrong. It was meant to shield certain laws from judicial review, and after I.R. Coelho (2007) such laws are open to review if they violate fundamental rights.
• D) Twelfth Schedule is wrong. It lists the functions of municipalities, added by the 74th Amendment.

The core concept is the special protection of tribal land in Scheduled Areas. For Mains (GS-II), link this to PESA, the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and gram sabha consent in the Niyamgiri case (2013).

Trap: aspirants pick the Sixth Schedule because it also deals with tribal areas. It covers tribal districts of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, not the Scheduled Areas of the rest of India.