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Forest Dept Notifications: HC Order Lands Govt In A QuandaryBy ugesh sarkar, Section Gurgaon News
The millennium city of Gurgaon is now a "forest"; no, not of concrete but in the "dictionary sense".
Gurgaon's character has undergone this sudden change because of the legal effect given by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to two notifications issued by the Haryana Forest Department in 1997. Gurgaon is not an exception. Keeping it company are many areas of Faridabad, Mewat, Narnaul, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar districts, which are now "forests". The Forest Department issued two notifications on November 27 and 28, 1997, under Sections 3 and 4 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1990, which banned cutting of trees or timber in the areas lying on the north (left) side of the metalled and unmetalled road connecting Chandigarh, Panchkula, Ramgarh, Raipur Rani, Naraingarh, Sadhaura, Bilaspur, Chhachhrauli, Dadupur and reaching the Yamuna near Nathanpur and Lakar villages; the western (right) side of the Delhi-Ballabgarh road and the northern (right) side of the Ballabgarh-Sohna road; the western side of the Delhi-Alwar road; the entire revenue estate of Gurgaon, Ferozepur Jhirka, Sohna, Pataudi, Narnaul, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Bawal and Kosli tehsils; and the areas lying on the western side of the Dadri-Bhiwani-Tosham-Hisar road. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Surya Kant held last month that all areas covered by these notifications were "forest land" for the purposes of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. Justice Surya Kant, writing for the Bench, further directed that these areas shall not be used for non-forest purposes, including major or minor minerals. With this, the mining will come to an end in virtually the entire state, barring certain pockets, affecting the on-going development projects as well as pushing the cost of construction material. Not only mining, all construction works, including those of HUDA, will not be legally permissible in the areas covered by the notifications. The judgment is, however, silent about the fate of those non-forest projects, which have already been executed in these areas after 1997. In Panchkula district, the immediate effect of the judgment will be not only on thousands engaged in the mining and stone-crushing operations, but also on Panchkula extension planned by HUDA and a colony proposed by the DLF. Source: The Tribune HC Order Lands Govt In A Quandary Click On "Full Story" For More...
The judgment has come on two writ petitions, one filed in 2004 by three members of the Panchkula District Bar Association as a public interest litigation and the other filed in 2008 by Chandi Mandir Stone Crushers Consumers Company.
The issue of the notifications had earlier come up before the Supreme Court in 2001 in the MC Mehta versus the Union of India case but the apex court had not decided their legal effect, which has now been done by the high court. The judgment has put the state in a quandary. The government is mulling at the highest level how to reconcile the interests of environment, development and employment in the light of the judgment. The government has also been left confused by certain aspects of the judgment. Though the court has allowed the mining activities to continue till February 28, 2010, to "obviate" varied hardships caused to the general public, labour and the state, it has directed that it can be done only on the basis of the contract or licence granted to the highest bidder.
However, it has also directed that short-term contracts will be subject to the terms and conditions, as are imposed while granting a five-year contract. One of the conditions for the five-year contract is prior clearance of the environment management plan, a process which takes at least a year. Thus the short-term contracts will become infructuous even before the environment clearance comes.
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