HP govt to approach SC against HC order to axe fruit trees on encroached land
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Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh govt has decided to file a special leave petition in the
Supreme Court
against the high court's directions to axe fruit-laden trees on the encroached forest land across the state.
The state govt will also approach the Supreme Court seeking a change in the definition of forest land under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980, as even barren land is also considered forest land. Since most of the land in Himachal is forest land, the state govt is not able to give relief to the monsoon disaster affected people.
Sharing the information on Saturday, minister for revenue, horticulture, and tribal affairs Jagat Singh Negi said the state govt was bound to follow the court orders of removing encroachments from the forest or govt land.
However, the govt felt that apple-laden trees, many of which were more than 40 years old, should not be axed.
Negi reasoned that axing thousands of such trees could be environmentally disastrous, especially during the ongoing monsoon season when the state is witnessing numerous cloudbursts and flash floods.
A single full-grown apple tree has a big canopy and bears 30-40 apple boxes; it is not easy to dispose of such a large number of trees, he said, adding that the entire exercise of axing these trees mindlessly would result in soil erosion and might invite more disasters.
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"It is up to the state govt, after the vacation of encroachments from forest land, whether it gets the auction of these fruit trees or takes any other step," said Negi.
In a meeting held Friday evening, the forest department and the advocate general's office have been directed to challenge the decision in the apex court at the earliest, the minister informed.
On the question of giving relief to the small farmers having less than five bighas of land, Negi said it was not easy for the state govt to implement such a policy as most of the encroached land came under the forest department and was governed by the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980.
This is a very stringent law, and the state govt cannot give even an inch of the land to anyone without the central govt's consent, clarified the minister. The central govt only gives land for development works like the construction of roads, he said.
The minister said the state govt had already urged the central govt to amend the FCA, but the amendment had not been carried out to date. Therefore, the state govt will also approach the Supreme Court seeking a change in the definition of forest land under the FCA.
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