Directions issued for removal of unauthorized dairies
*Wants to know whether illegal felling of trees stopped
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 19: The Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Sindhu Sharma has sought time-frame from the Government for the removal of encroachments from 3.5 lakh kanals of forest land in the length and breadth of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Moreover, the Division Bench has asked the Forest Department to reveal whether the illegal felling of trees has been stopped and the status of forest land in Block Bangara in Ramban district where 200 houses have been constructed illegally.
In a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Save Animals Value Environment (SAVE) Versus J&K and Others, the Government had filed a detailed report mentioning that 3.5 lakh kanals of forest land is under unauthorized occupation and there are about 64,000 encroachers in the length and breadth of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Thereafter, the Government, on the directions of the High Court, even furnished the list of 50 largest encroachers in terms of size of encroached land and submitted that action for eviction of the encroachers under the provisions of Indian Forest Act, 1927 has been initiated and final eviction orders have been passed against some persons.
Accordingly, the Division Bench of the High Court comprising the then Chief Justice Gita Mittal and the then First Puisne Judge Justice Rajesh Bindal vide order dated October 28, 2020 directed the Forest Department to proceed expeditiously in the matter of retrieving of encroached forest land.
However, the progress made in this regard has not been put in public domain for the reasons best known to those at the helm of affairs in the Forest Department.
When the PIL came up for hearing two days back, a Division Bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal observed, “the PIL is basically for removal of 59 unregistered dairies which are being run in the limits of Jammu Municipal Corporation. However, during the course of hearing, the court took up the matter of encroachment of forest land in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir”.
“One of the orders on record dated October 28, 2020 reveals that about 3.5 lakh kanals of forest land is under unauthorized occupation and that there are about 64,000 encroachers”, the DB said.
As there was no report on the record vis-a-v-vis removal of encroachments from the forest land, the DB directed Deputy Advocate General Ayjaz Lone to seek instructions and state before the court as to the time within which most of the encroachers would be evicted from the forest land. “He may also file a chart showing district-wise removal of encroachment from the forest land made till date”, the DB added.
After hearing Advocates Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, Naveed H Naik and Zulkarnain Choudhary for the PIL, the DB said, “an ancillary issue had also arisen with regard to the establishment of Gowshalla outside the Municipal limits for which 97 kanals of land was earmarked but till date the Gowshala has not been established expect for taking various kinds of exercises and submission of Detailed Project Report etc”.
Accordingly, the DB directed Advocate Sachin Gupta appearing for the Jammu Municipal Corporation to seek instructions and make statement from the responsible officers as to the time frame within which these unauthorized dairies will be removed from the municipal limits and the proposed Gowshala would be made operational after completing all necessary formalities.
“He may submit the complete blue print in this regard”, the DB directed, adding “it is expected that the Jammu Municipal Corporation will not waste funds unnecessarily on the construction of boundary walls, levelling of the land and other similar things as the purpose can be served by getting the land fenced properly at a much lesser cost and the funds be better utilized for real necessity such as construction of sheds for the cattle etc”.
In another PIL filed by inhabitants of Tehsil Pogal Paristan in Ramban district highlighting illegal felling of green trees without any proper permission and encroachment of forest land on which about 200 houses have been constructed illegally in Block Bangara, the DB issued notices which were accepted by Deputy Advocate General Ayjaz Lone.
He was directed to seek instructions and inform the court as to what the Forest Department has been doing and proposes to do. “He may also inform as to whether the illegal felling of trees has been stopped and what is the status of the forest land”, the DB added.
In another PIL regarding eviction of encroachers from 2100 kanals of forest land in village Hari of Surankote tehsil of Poonch distruct, the Division Bench directed Deputy Advocate General to seek fresh instructions and file further status report clearly stating the time period within which most of the encroachments would be removed by the Forest Department.
“It is expected that the Forest Department would also pinpoint the officers who were responsible for such encroachments so that necessary action may be initiated against them”, the DB said.
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