Himachal HC allows policy to regularise small encroachments

Shimla, April 12 (IANS) The Himachal Pradesh High Court has allowed the state to frame a policy to regularise small encroachments, mainly by growers, on government land with a rider that it did not compromise with its legality and validity.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Chauhan passed this order on Tuesday.

Official sources said it would come as a big relief for thousands of small growers, who have encroached upon forest and revenue land by illegally extending their orchards. The high court has already directed the government to clear all such encroachments.

"The state may proceed with the policy but it should not be construed that we have upheld the legality and validity of the proposed policy.

"If the policy is made, its validity and legality can be tested at any time, if questioned," the court said.

After the court directive on encroachments, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, in a suo-motu statement in the assembly in August 2015, announced the formation of a committee to suggest a policy on encroachments by poor landless people on forest and revenue land.

Noting that while illegal encroachments have to be proceeded against, there was also a human angle involved in the matter, he said: "We need to approach the whole issue with both a legal and humane perspective."

"Distinction needs to be made between those poor landless persons who are occupying government land out of duress and helplessness and those who have done so out of greed. Similarly, we may perhaps have to adopt different approaches for forest and non-forest land," he had said.

An encroachment is an encroachment and the encroachers are liable to be evicted, the high court ruled on August 6, 2015.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mir and Justice Chauhan had observed: "Encroachment on one inch or on thousand inches, is an encroachment and the encroachers are liable to be evicted and dealt with under law."

They had directed the government to clear the encroachments by the fruit growers on forest land within six months, adding that electricity and water connections of encroachers should be disconnected.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report tabled in the assembly last month said the state has not been able to demarcate 54 per cent of its forest area in 28 years and there are over 15,409 cases of encroachments despite high court strictures.

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