GURUGRAM: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to Rajasthan and Haryana govts, seeking compliance with its Dec 9, 2022 judgment in the Sonya Ghosh vs State of Haryana case. The tribunal directed the states to set up a monitoring committee and conduct periodic reviews to remove illegal constructions from protected Aravali land in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Nuh (Haryana) and Alwar (Rajasthan), classified as “gair mumkin pahar (uncultivable hill)”. It also demanded a reply and compliance report by affidavit at least one week before the next hearing on March 26, 2025.
This fresh direction, which came on March 6, was during the hearing of an execution application by amicus curiae Raj Panjwani. Despite clear directives, Panjwani reported that no action or compliance report was submitted by the states. Activist Sonya Ghosh had filed a plea with NGT on the encroachments.
The original case was under scrutiny for over a decade and highlighted violations of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC) notification dated May 7, 1992, which prohibits construction in designated areas. Earlier, the tribunal — by order dated Dec 9, 2022 — after monitoring the matter for more than 10 years had disposed of the original application by directing as under: “The encroachers having been identified and the states of Rajasthan and Haryana having constituted their monitoring mechanism, it will be appropriate to direct that further remedial action may be taken by the states of Rajasthan and Haryana in accordance with law.””The compliance may be monitored at the level of chief secretaries of the respective states periodically, preferably on a quarterly basis. If there is any grievance against any specified violation, it will be open to the aggrieved parties to take remedies as per law,” the order of chairperson Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel had said earlier.
“Learned amicus curiae submits that aforesaid direction of the tribunal has not been complied with and no action after the said direction was taken and no report was submitted,” the order said. “Issue notice to the respondents for filing the reply/compliance report by way of affidavit at least one week before the next date of hearing. The applicant is directed to serve the respondents and file an affidavit of service at least one week before the next date of hearing. Counsel for the applicant is directed to supply a copy of the original application (OA) along with all the enclosures to counsel for the respondents within one week,” the order has said.
“It is surprising that the state govts are not following the court orders anymore. This attitude of the civic bodies and the govt is paving the way for more non-forest activities,” environmental activist Vaishali Rana said.
Disposing of the petition on Dec 9, an NGT bench of chairman Adarsh Kumar Goel, judicial member Sudhir Agarwal, and expert members A Senthil Vel and Afroz Ahmad asked the Haryana and Rajasthan govt to continue with remedial action in accordance with the law.
The tribunal had noted that govt departments worked to remove encroachments in their jurisdiction and submitted action-taken reports. Over nearly 10 years, there were 71 hearings of the case in NGT. According to a forest department survey, at least 500 farmhouses were built illegally on Aravali land in Gurgaon, concentrated in areas like Gwalpahari, Abheypur, Gairatpur Bas, Sohna, Raisina and Manesar. A detailed list of these constructions was submitted to NGT in the Sonya Ghosh case last year. The report also had details of the total area occupied by them and their locations.
TOI has been highlighting the matter. Last year, NGT took suo-motu cognisance of a TOI report on illegal construction at Ansals Aravali Retreat in Raisina. NGT issued notices to authorities and said that rebuilding of razed structures was a “flagrant violation” of its previous orders. The bench of NGT chairperson Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel on Aug 23 directed Haryana chief secretary, principal chief conservator of forest, Haryana space application center, and Gurgaon district magistrate to respond at least a week before the next date of hearing.
The tribunal said that reconstruction was a “flagrant violation” of its 2022 ruling in the Sonya Ghosh vs State of Haryana and others case. In this order, NGT directed Haryana and Rajasthan govts to remove all encroachments on protected Aravali land, create a monitoring committee and revive degraded forest areas. Officials of Sohna municipal council, under whose jurisdiction Raisina falls, said, “We have been conducting demolition drives in the area.”
