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‘Question of survival…’: Uttarakhand High Court pulls up state over encroachment on water bodies
The court was hearing three PILs that flagged encroachments on water bodies and drains in Rajpur, Doon Valley. One petitioner sought that the state declare the catchment areas of drains of Rispana and Bindal rivers as ‘no construction zones’.
3 min read
On March 17, the court had called the allegations of encroachments and dumping of debris severe and that non-compliance was akin to criminal contempt.Coming down heavily on the state government for not complying with its orders, the Uttarakhand High Court on Monday issued guidelines for action against encroachments on water bodies in Dehradun.
The court was hearing three PILs that flagged encroachments on water bodies and drains in Rajpur, Doon Valley. One petitioner sought that the state declare the catchment areas of drains of Rispana and Bindal rivers as ‘no construction zones’. Another petition flagged private encroachments on a rivulet and prayed that encroachment on the seasonal streams in Sahastradhara should be stopped.
When questioned about the delay in submitting compliance reports regarding encroachments on water bodies as mandated by the court in an earlier order, the counsel for the Municipal Commissioner of Dehradun cited a 2018 Act by the state government against clearing encroachments pre-existing a 2016 cut-off date. The court Monday said, “The Supreme Court said that you evict them by due process of law, you start the process…” The court said that there was no construction there but debris was dumped in the stream. “This is the question of survival of the future…,” the court said.
The counsel for the petitioners, Abhijay Negi, flagged that two seasonal streams are being filled with debris. Addressing the Municipal Commissioner, the CJ said, “Are you to be reminded that you need to be complying with the orders of the court? Do you realise the consequences?”
RK Sudhanshu, Principal Secretary, Forest, along with Secretaries of Urban Development and Revenue, said that they have defaulted on reports. “We have taken action and conducted an anti-encroachment drive… We could not submit the reports because of elections… parliamentary and municipal bodies,” he said.
The CJ said that elections cannot be an excuse and asked the Principal Secretary to inform the court in three weeks on how much time they required to clear these encroachments through an affidavit from secretaries of Irrigation, Urban Development, Forest, and Revenue, and the Municipal Commissioner. When Sudhanshu asked for more time, the CJ said, “From 21 (2021), what have you been doing? We want a commitment from you and it cannot be open-ended like this with the officers forgetting and ignoring the court orders,” he said.
Further, the CJ said, “There is a deliberate attempt by vested interests with an object of grabbing the land who dump debris on water bodies and this is resulting in floods…”
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The court asked the authorities to install CCTV cameras and the DGP to inform the SHOs in the area to take action against those dumping debris in water bodies. “The SHOs and Urban Development Secretary should make public announcements regarding the dumping of debris in water bodies being a punishable offence,” the court observed.
On March 17, the court had called the allegations of encroachments and dumping of debris severe and that non-compliance was akin to criminal contempt.
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