Garhwal Post Bureau
Nainital, 27 Jul: The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the District Magistrate of Dehradun and the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) to submit their replies within two weeks in a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning alleged encroachment and sale of government land in Umedpur, East Hope Town, Vikasnagar. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay heard the matter today and has fixed the next date of hearing after two weeks.
During the proceedings, it was noted that despite earlier directions, the DM and the DFO have not filed their affidavits. They sought more time from the court, stating that several encroachments have already been removed, fencing is being undertaken and identification of remaining encroachments was in progress. The builder’s counsel requested that the builder be personally present during the process of marking encroachments.
The PIL has been filed by Prabhu Dayal Sharma of Dehradun, who alleged that the builders have illegally encroached upon 15 bighas of land belonging to a government drain in Umedpur and are selling it to people. A committee constituted earlier to investigate the matter confirmed that encroachment had taken place on government land. The committee also observed that the DFO had failed to remove the encroachments.
The petitioner urged the court to order removal of encroachments from the seasonal drain and to initiate strict action against those responsible. The bench has now sought detailed replies from the concerned authorities before proceeding further.
