Supreme Court raps Haryana government for ‘destroying Aravali forest’

The Haryana government's ambitious law to open thousands of acres of forest land falling in the Aravali forest range for development met the ire of the Supreme Court which accused the state of "destroying the forest" and restrained the Haryana government from proceeding further with the law.

Days after the Haryana Government amended the Punjab Land Preservation Act of 1900 and got it cleared from the State Assembly, the matter was brought to the attention of the Court by amicus curiae ADN Rao. Finding the conduct of the state to be "contemptuous" the bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta pulled up the state counsel for showing such "temerity" in breaching the orders passed by the apex court from time to time with a view to protective the eco-fragile zone of Aravali Ranges.

"You (Haryana legislature) are not supreme, the rule of law is supreme. We knew that you will do such adventurism. It is shocking that you went ahead. You are in deep trouble now," said the Court, threatening to even initiate contempt proceedings. On September 11, 2018 the apex court had shown zero tolerance to any kind of construction activity on forest land by ordering eviction of over 30 families settled in Kant Enclave situated in Aravali forest zone.

While dealing with the matter, the Court noted with concern that though, the Forest Department of the state notified the land where Kant Enclave stood to be forest, by the tacit support of the Town and Country Planning Department of the state, the builders R Kant and Associates got the layout plans approved for construction of dwelling units.

On Friday, the state counsel tried to explain to the Court the reason why the Haryana government decided to throw open close to 60000 acres of forest land for development. This land is spread across Gurgaon, Faridabad, Nuh and Mahendargarh. But the bench refused to hear him saying, "You want to favour the high and mighty by destroying the forest. We will not allow it to happen."

WHAT BENCH SAID

• The state counsel tried to explain close to 60,000 acres of forest land is thrown open. 
   
• To this Bench said: “You want to favour the high & mighty destroying the forest. We will not allow it to happen.”