HC seeks Pathankot DC’s personal affidavit on illegal mining, encroachment of 845 kanals of Central land
The Bench was hearing a writ petition filed by Karan Singh, who alleged in the petition that the land had been encroached upon and put to environmentally hazardous use despite its strategic and ecological importance
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Pathankot Deputy Commissioner to look into a matter involving allegations of illegal mining, manipulation of land records and unlawful occupation of 845 kanals of the Union Government land located in a sensitive international border belt and the eco-sensitive Ravi riverbed.
Fixing February 23 as the next date of hearing, the Division Bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor asserted: “Without commenting upon the merits of the matter, we deem it appropriate to call upon the respondent to examine the matter and file his personal affidavit in response to the allegations made in the writ by the next date of hearing”.
The Bench was hearing a writ petition filed by Karan Singh, who alleged in the petition that the land had been encroached upon and put to environmentally hazardous use despite its strategic and ecological importance.
The Bench, in its order, noted that the petitioner had earlier approached the High Court, which had disposed of the matter with a direction to consider his representation. “The allegation was that certain illegal mining has been undertaken and threats are being extended to the petitioner. The representation has now been rejected. Aggrieved by it, the petitioner is before this Court,” the Bench observed.
The Bench also took note of the submissions in the writ petition that “most of the land has been subsequently recorded in the names of certain influential persons”. The alleged dispute relates to Central government land in Chak Kaushalya (Chak Koshalian) village under Narot Jaimal Singh tehsil.
Among other things, the petitioner had alleged in the petition that the land despite its strategic significance and sensitive character was allegedly illegally occupied by persons, stated to be close relatives and associates of senior police officers, including a serving Inspector-General of Police of Punjab.
The petition alleged that these influential individuals had engineered a fraudulent girdawari entries, manipulated revenue records and transferred de facto possession of a substantial portion of the land to stone crusher operators engaged in unlicensed, unregulated and environmentally hazardous mining activity.
