SC orders removal of illegal structures erected after Oct 25, 1980 on forest land in Faridabad
India Today
The Supreme Court in its verdict on Thursday directed the authorities to remove illegal structures erected after 25th October 1980 on forest land in Ballabhgarh of Faridabad.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Haryana and central authorities to immediately start the process to remove all encroachment from protected forest lands in Anangpur, Ballabhgarh.
The court ordered all the concerned authorities to remove the remaining illegal structures erected after 25th October 1980 on land covered by the special orders and used for non-forest activities without prior approval of the Central government.
The apex court said that the “lands covered by the special orders issued under Section 4 of Punjab Land Preservation Act have all the trappings of forest lands within the meaning of Section 2 of the 1980 Forest Act and, therefore, the state government or competent authority cannot permit its use for non-forest activities without the prior approval of the Central Government."
The bench of justices AM Khanwilkar, AS Oka and CT Ravikumar also held that the petitioners, which include owners of hotels/banquet halls etc as well as the state government, had tried to give "misleading and fallacious" information to the court.
The national green tribunal in 2013 passed directions to remove encroachments from forest lands, but the order has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court also said that the state government tried to give "misleading and fallacious" information to the court in its argument against removing encroachment.
The court rapped the Haryana government for "fallacious and misleading" information on protected forest land in the state and said that the verdict would also create protection for a large part of land in the Aravallis.
