Himachal HC sets up panel on illegal felling of trees

Shimla, June 28 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Himachal Pradesh High Court has set up a committee comprising the Mandi Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police, and the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority to look into the allegations of illegal felling of trees in the Nachan forest division

A Division Bench of Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Ajay Mohan Goe passed this order on a petition taken up suo moto by the court as public interest litigation on a letter written to the Chief Justice by Raju, a resident of Chail Chowk in Mandi district.

The petitioner has alleged that at the behest of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Nachan, who is posted for more than five years, thousand of green trees have been axed in Nachan.

He said roads have been constructed illegally by cutting trees from extremely dense forest without clearance under the Forest Conservation Act.

The forest area has been destroyed despite having a sanctuary region of about 10 km radius of the Shikari Devi-Dehar road, he said, adding that at the behest of the DFO, a ground has been constructed at Chail Chowk by destroying 500 trees.

The petitioner has prayed for action against the DFO to stop the devastation and forest, environment and government money.

The respondents have disputed the allegations leveled by the petitioner in the reply filed by them.

Therefore, the court has directed the committee to verify as to whether the claims made in the reply filed by the respondents are true or not. The committee has been further directed to file its report within three months. The matter will be listed for hearing on October 10.

Source: IANS