HC orders to evict encroachers from 11 bighas of Karsog land

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the state forest as well as revenue department to identify and take back possession of over 11 bighas of forest land encroached upon by a local resident in Shalog village of Karsog tehsil in Mandi district by Jan 15 next year.The division bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Bipin Chander Negi directed the divisional forest officer concerned to file compliance report by Jan 29 next year. “Any dereliction in performing compliance of aforesaid direction or laxity to remove encroachment from govt/forest land shall be taken seriously and consequential adverse action/proceedings shall ensue,” cleared the court. The directions came as the court dismissed an appeal filed by encroacher Hira Singh against the divisional commissioner’s order dated Feb 26, 2015, affirming his eviction from the forest land.The high court, in its Nov 21 judgment, observed that while adjudicating such govt land encroachment cases in the past it had made it clear that in the absence of approval of the central govt or for want of pendency of any request for such approval from the central govt, the forest land could not be put to use for a non-forest purpose. The bench also observed that Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, clarified that “breaking up or clearing of any forest land or portion thereof for the cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber, palms, oil bearing plants, horticulture crops or medical plants and even any purpose other than re-afforestation, shall amount to using such land for non-forest purpose”.The court asserted in case encroacher Hira Singh opts to take away the fixtures or building material for his own use, apart from movable articles, it will not give him right to continue with the possession of the encroached land or structure raised on the encroached land. The encroacher will have to remove material of the structure at his own cost before March 5 next year. The encroacher shall have to obtain a no objection or clearance certificate about the complete removal of everything from the spot whereupon illegal structure had been raised, said the court.“The authorities concerned are also directed to remove other encroachment(s) from the govt/forest land detected/found on the spot during demarcation/identification of the land in reference by taking appropriate action in accordance with law in a time-bound manner, to the maximum within six months from the date on which such encroachment is found/detected,” stated the court.