Wednesday, 04 OCTOBER 2023 | PNS | NAINITAL
The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the State government to ascertain the ownership of land and remove encroachment from about 70 bigha land in Rishikesh if it belongs to the Gram Sabha. The division bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Alok Kumar Verma issued this direction while hearing a public interest litigation against alleged encroachment by land mafia on 70 bigha land in Khadak Mafi area of Rishikesh. The court issued notices to the State government, Dehradun additional district magistrate and sub divisional magistrate, among other parties and directed them to reply within four weeks.
Khadak Mafi resident Meena Devi had filed the PIL stating that 70 bigha land of the village has been encroached upon since 2015-16. She said that letters were written to the government many times regarding this issue but not action has been taken so far by the authorities. The petitioner has stated that the Gram Sabha is supposed to build a Gaushala, garbage plant and other projects on this land but the land mafia is not ready to vacate the land. The land mafia elements are exerting pressure on the villagers for building the waste management plant on the sports ground prepared under Khelo India programme.
