In an unusual move, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has called in the Eco Task Force of the Indian Army to remove encroachments from forestland..According to a report in The Tribune, the order to call in the Army for this task was passed on Friday to ensure that no untoward incident took place during this drive..A Division Bench comprising the Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma also ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to visit various districts in the Shimla district to carry out the encroachment removal drive and evict encroachers from public land..The Court had taken up this case of encroachment on public and forest land in Himachal Pradesh as a suo moto public interest litigation earlier this year after a resident had written a letter to the Chief Justice in this regard..It had the constituted the SIT in April for the specific purpose of evicting encroachers from public land. On Friday, the Court ordered that the soldiers of the Eco-Task Force of the Army would work alongside this SIT to make sure that every encroachment on forest land in the villages of Kotkhai area are removed..While calling in the Army wing to carry out this task, the Court also came down heavily on the State government for not complying with the Court’s orders vis-à-vis removing encroachments even after assuring the Court of the same..“It is a sorry state of affairs of functioning of the officers/officials of the state, who despite an assurance to this court, have really not taken any effective action against those who have encroached upon a large chunk of government land and more specifically in Jalatha, Chaithla and Pungrish villages of Kotkhai tehsil, Shimla district.”.It was also observed by the Court that the State officials had only been taking action against small farmers and did not act against big encroachers. While calling the Armed Forces for implementing its order, the Court also directed the Shimla Deputy Commissioner to deploy efficient and effective officials to assist the soldiers and the SIT in this task..The SIT has to file a report in this regard on Tuesday, July 24.
In an unusual move, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has called in the Eco Task Force of the Indian Army to remove encroachments from forestland..According to a report in The Tribune, the order to call in the Army for this task was passed on Friday to ensure that no untoward incident took place during this drive..A Division Bench comprising the Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma also ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to visit various districts in the Shimla district to carry out the encroachment removal drive and evict encroachers from public land..The Court had taken up this case of encroachment on public and forest land in Himachal Pradesh as a suo moto public interest litigation earlier this year after a resident had written a letter to the Chief Justice in this regard..It had the constituted the SIT in April for the specific purpose of evicting encroachers from public land. On Friday, the Court ordered that the soldiers of the Eco-Task Force of the Army would work alongside this SIT to make sure that every encroachment on forest land in the villages of Kotkhai area are removed..While calling in the Army wing to carry out this task, the Court also came down heavily on the State government for not complying with the Court’s orders vis-à-vis removing encroachments even after assuring the Court of the same..“It is a sorry state of affairs of functioning of the officers/officials of the state, who despite an assurance to this court, have really not taken any effective action against those who have encroached upon a large chunk of government land and more specifically in Jalatha, Chaithla and Pungrish villages of Kotkhai tehsil, Shimla district.”.It was also observed by the Court that the State officials had only been taking action against small farmers and did not act against big encroachers. While calling the Armed Forces for implementing its order, the Court also directed the Shimla Deputy Commissioner to deploy efficient and effective officials to assist the soldiers and the SIT in this task..The SIT has to file a report in this regard on Tuesday, July 24.
