The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken suo motu cognizance of the encroachment of forests in Uttarakhand.
The petition is registered suo motu on the basis of the news item dated 22.08.2024.
As per the article, a total of 104.54 square kilometres of forest in 39 forest divisions of the State is occupied by encroachers. The news item questions the inaction of the Forest Department as the encroachment took place gradually, yet no action has been taken by authorities.
The article mentions that 11,000 hectares of forest land in the State were encroached and the Forest Department did not even know about it and upon gaining knowledge, only 11.5 hectares of forest land were freed from encroachment.
Furthermore, the Uttarakhand Forest Statistics Book published in 2017-2018 reported that 9,506.2249 hectares of forest land were encroached upon. However, under the CM’s instructions, a recent campaign initiated by the Forest Department last year reported an increased figure of 11,814.47 hectares of encroached forest land. This raises questions about whether the increase occurred over the past three years or if it reflects earlier encroachments that were previously unreported.
The tribunal has also taken up a similar matter relating to large encroachments on forest land across the country in the matter of 2024.
The news item raises substantial issues relating to compliance with environmental norms.
“Power of the Tribunal to take up the matter in suo motu exercise of power has been recognized by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of “Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai vs. Ankita Sinha & Ors.” reported in 2021 SCC Online SC 897.”
Hence, the Principal Bench of Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Dr A. Senthil Vel impleaded the following as respondents in the matter:
(1). Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
(2). Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Uttarakhand.
The Bench issued notice to the Respondents and listed the matter on 11.11.2024.