Remove all encroachments in Aravalli forest area-SC

The Supreme Court Monday directed Haryana and the Faridabad municipal corporation to remove "all encroachments", consisting around 10,000 residential construction, in Aravalli forest area near a village, saying "land grabbers cannot take refuge of rule of law" and talk of "fairness". A vacation bench of justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari sought a compliance report from the state government's officials after removing all encroachments from forest land near Lakarpur Khori village in Faridabad district within six weeks.

"In our opinion, the petitioners are bound by the directions given by the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court in orders..," the bench said in the order and made clear that the state government may consider the plea of rehabilitation independently. "Therefore we reiterate our directions given to the state and the Faridabad Municipal Corporation and expect that the corporation will remove all encroachments on forest land not later than 6 weeks and report compliance..," the bench ordered after hearing a plea filed by five alleged encroachers led by one Sarina Sarkar against the demolition drive of the civic body.

The top court, in a hearing conducted via video conferencing, directed that the Deputy Commissioner of Police of Faridabad will be responsible for providing police protection to the civic body officials in the demolition drive. The bench made clear that the compliance of earlier orders, asking removal of encroachments from forest land, would be verified by it. During the hearing, the bench took note of the submission that the illegal dwellers have no place to go and the state be directed to rehabilitate them before their eviction, saying the "land grabbers cannot take refuge in the rule of law" and talk of "fairness". The bench said that it would be asking the civic body, as to why the encroachments have not been removed despite its February, 2020 order on it