GURUGRAM: An extended deadline granted by the Supreme Court to raze all illegal structures in the protected Aravalis of Haryana ended on Monday, with activists alleging that the state did not just fail in following orders but it also could not stop new construction from being carried out.
In October last year, the bench of justices AS Oka and Augustine George Masih allowed Haryana govt six more months to demolish all structures built in the Aravalis that are protected under sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA). Areas notified under PLPA’s special orders are to be treated as ‘forests’ and they are protected under the Forest (Conservation) Act, the top court had ruled in 2022. March 31 was the last day to complete the demolitions, which were to be carried out as a consequence of the 2022 ruling.
“This is contempt of court. The Supreme Court’s ruling in July 2022 mandated that all land under PLPA special orders must be treated as forest land, and any illegal construction must be demolished. Despite these clear legal provisions, the enforcement of demolition orders has been lacklustre, raising concerns about the efficacy of environmental protection measures,” said RP Balwan, retired conservator of forest, Haryana (South).
Environmentalists said there are dozens of banquet halls, cow shelters, shops and eateries thriving in the protected Aravalis of Faridabad, Gurgaon and Nuh.
Additionally, boundary walls and gates have been erected in the Aravalis of Mewal in Faridabad over the past few months. Around five acres of PLPA land has been encroached on, they said.
Sunil Harsana, an ecologist, said the initial order to demolish illegal construction in the Aravalis came in 2022.
“At the time, SC gave Haryana three months to remove all construction. Haryana has since taken several extensions (from SC) but hardly carried out any large-scale demolition in two years. How are new encroachments coming up despite SC’s order,” Harsana asked.
The two-judge bench is scheduled to take up the case next on April 11.
After the 2022 order, Haryana govt carried out a survey and found that 6,793 illegal structures –- mostly banquet halls and residential settlements –- were built on protected PLPA land in four villages of Faridabad. A majority of these were in Anangpur (5,948) and the remaining in Ankhir, Lakkarpur, and Mewla Maharajpur.
The govt had said that the demolitions will start from these four Faridabad villages, and the drive will be expanded to other districts afterwards.
But, in over two years, just two demolition drives in Faridabad have been carried out to remove a dozen-odd small structures.
Environmentalists said on Monday that Faridabad, one of the seven Haryana districts that are home to the Aravalis, does not even have a divisional forest officer. The last DFO – Jhalkar Uyake — was transferred in March without a replacement.
The state govt, before the court, has cited elections and administrative challenges for the delays in carrying out demolition drives.
Asked about the progress, a forest official on Monday repeated the govt’s stand, saying: “The delays in demolition drives were because of several elections that were scheduled in the state and also administrative challenges.”
Protecting the Aravalis in Haryana is a particularly challenging task because the hills are not classified as forest land, and thereby, don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the forest department. Less than half of the Aravalis in the state are, instead, protected by court rulings, like the PLPA special orders and Aravali Notification of 1992. This leaves 55,000 hectares of the hills without any green cover.
