High Court issues notice to government over violation of environment, land use norms

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has taken suo motu cognizance of a letter from Vijender Singh Verma, a resident of Rahighat village in Theog of Shimla district, and treated its as a public interest litigation (PIL).

The letter alleged that Vaikuntha Hospitalities Pvt. Ltd., Chamba, is constructing a hotel on about 35 bighas of orchard land in violation of environmental and land use norms. The court issued a notice to the state government and also impleaded Vaikuntha Hospitalities Pvt. Ltd. as a respondent in the case and directed the Registry to carry out necessary corrections in the memo of the parties.

The letter alleged that forestland had been encroached and excavated to build an access road and around 60 fully-grown deodar and chir trees had been illegally felled though official permission was granted for cutting only three deodar trees. It was also pointed out that muck from the construction site was being dumped at unauthorised locations, causing environmental damage.

The matter would now proceed for further consideration regarding the alleged encroachment on forestland and environmental violations on November 22.