Uttarakhand HC summons chief secretary over PIL on demolitions 'without prior notice'

Nainital, Dec 15 Hearing a PIL on the demolitions of alleged encroachments without prior notice on Monday, the Uttarakhand High Court directed the state's chief secretary to appear before it and respond on the matter.

A division bench of Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Subhash Upadhyay was hearing a PIL related to illegal encroachments on forest land, state highways, national highways, and revenue land in the state.

The bench had earlier directed the state government to constitute district-level committees and conduct hearings on the identified encroachments.

The court was informed on Monday that encroachments were being demolished without issuing notices and without giving an opportunity for a hearing, which is a violation of the directions issued by the Supreme Court in this regard.

Taking serious note of this, the court directed the state's chief secretary to appear through video conferencing and respond to the PIL's claim that the top court's directives were violated.

Earlier, the court had taken cognisance of illegal encroachments on forest department land and public spots in the Padampuri area of ??Nainital.

Subsequently, the high court directed all district magistrates and divisional forest officers to remove encroachments from national highways, state highways, forest land, and revenue land across the state and submit compliance reports.