After Kant Enclave, police institute on NGT radar for PLPA violations

GURUGRAM: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought an action-taken report from the Haryana forest department regarding construction of the police training and research institute of Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) in Bhondsi, on protected land. The report is to be submitted with NGT within a month.



The direction was in response to a petition filed in the NGT, highlighting a major violation of land falling under sections 4 and 5 of PLPA in Bhondsi. The petition was filed after an RTI last year revealed that the construction of the institute on notified forest land was illegal.

On September 18, 2018, TOI reported the violation in its report: ‘Police institute in Bhondsi stands on PLPA: RTI’. The training institute, built over a 395 acre plot notified under sections 4 and 5 of PLPA, currently has an office, hostel and other buildings of the police training centre.

Petitioner Ram Avtar Yadav told TOI, “The violation came to light after I filed an RTI application with the forest department. I came to know that the construction not only violates provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, but the construction was also carried out illegally on a 480m-long plot designated as Kadapur bund, a check dam.”

Yadav alleged that even though he demanded an immediate investigation, as well as removal of the construction and revival of the PLPA land, no action was taken by the forest department. “Since the time I received the RTI response, I have been running from pillar to post requesting the forest department to carry out an investigation. However, no action was taken by the department. I had no option but to move NGT. Now that the Supreme Court has ordered demolition of all construction in Kant Enclave, which was also on PLPA land, the court should take action against other constructions on PLPA land by the authorities themselves,” he said.

According to the RTI response, the forest department came to know about the violation in 2017, when IRB applied for land conversion — about 15 years after their building was built. The RTI response also said the forest department is yet to grant the requisite permission for acquisition or conversion of the land, which is a prerequisite for carrying out any construction.

“The department has already written to the institute and is also investigating the matter. We will follow directions of the NGT,” said an official of the forest department.