List submitted, identity of 120 occupants in Sunjwan concealed
Forest, Revenue asked to jointly conduct demarcation
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 3: Sending a loud and clear message that judiciary will act tough against the encroachers of the forest land in the length and breadth of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rajesh Bindal today directed the Forest and Revenue Departments to jointly conduct demarcation and delineation of the encroached land and file a comprehensive status report.
Moreover, Forest Department has been asked to come up with the complete details of all the encroachers and even identify the influential ones so that effective orders are passed for retrieval of the land from their illegal possession.
When the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Non-Governmental Organization namely Save Animal Value Environment (SAVE) was taken up for hearing, Advocate General D C Raina submitted the list of encroachers of the forest land in the length and breadth of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in a sealed cover.
“The Forest Department officers have prepared the list of encroachers by making hard efforts”, he said. However, the Chief Justice, in the open court, remarked, “Forest Department has put in hard efforts in making revelations about the encroachments which were made right under its nose……hard efforts should have been made in preventing the same”.
The Chief Justice asked the Advocate General to read out names of some influential/VIP encroachers of the forest land. “Let us know the names of the VIPs, who enjoyed the privilege of encroaching upon the forest land”, she added in the open court. However, there was hesitation on the part of the Advocate General. Later, Deputy Advocate General Ayjaz Lone read out few names from the list.
However, Justice Rajesh Bindal promptly reacted and said, “there are hundreds of Ram Lals and Sham Lals in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir….we want you to specifically point out the VIP encroachers”.
Later, Justice Gita Mittal, in the open court, asked the Advocate General to handover the file to Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad, the counsel for the Public Interest Litigation, so that at least some names of the VIPs could be read out in the court.
After briefly but carefully examining the file, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad pointed out that identity of those persons who have raised 120 concrete structures on the forest land in Sunjwan area has not been revealed by the Forest Department. “They have simply mentioned that some unidentified persons have raised concrete structures over forest land in Sunjwan”, he further said, adding “this is just one example of the discrepancies in the list of encroachers submitted by the Forest Department”.
Chief Conservator of Forest and a Divisional Forest Officer, who were personally present in the court, were asked to explain as to what steps are being taken to protect forest land from the encroachers and why huge chunk of land has remained under the possession of encroachers till date.
Though they tried to explain the position yet Chief Justice made it clear that judiciary will act tough against the encroachers of the forest land in the length and breadth of Jammu and Kashmir. “You (Forest Department) should at least protect the land which has already been fenced”, she directed in the open court.
After hearing Advocate General D C Raina along with Deputy Advocate General Ayjaz Lone for the Government and Forest Department and Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rajesh Raina and Supriya Singh Chauhan, the Chief Justice, in the open court, directed the Revenue and Forest Departments to jointly conduct demarcation and delineation of the forest land across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and file comprehensive report.
“The list of encroachers should be examined afresh and complete details of the encroachers including the VIP ones be furnished by next date of hearing so that effective orders are passed for retrieval of the encroached forest land”, DB directed in the open court.
It is pertinent to mention here that on February 26, 2020, in pursuance to order dated July 3, 2019, the Forest Department submitted compliance report giving details of land encroached in the Jammu and Kashmir regions.
On this, the DB had observed, “the information furnished is not complete as only the total area of forest land encroached has been mentioned without giving details of the persons in occupation and the steps taken to evict them”.
At this stage, the Advocate General had stated that he will get all the details of the persons, who have encroached upon the forest land, and the steps taken for removal. However, discrepancies were noticed in the list of encroachers submitted today.
Earlier, Advocate General, in the presence of Avny Lavasa, Commissioner Jammu Municipal Corporation, submitted that issue of forest land for construction of cattle pound at Nagrota has been resolved.
“The land has been transferred to JMC with the condition that the particular chunk of forest land will be used for keeping fodder and growing grass and no for raising any concrete structure”, AG said.
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