New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, August 23, adjourned the hearing of pleas for two weeks filed in connection with the demolition of 10,000 houses that allegedly came up on the forest land in Khori Gaon, Haryana, and which the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad is in the process of demolishing, according to LiveLaw.
The adjournment order was issued after Tushar Mehta, solicitor general appearing for the state of Haryana and its forest department, sought the same in his August 6 submission to the court, as the state government needs more time to consider representation made by wedding hall owners in the area on whom eviction and demolition notices have been served. In their representation to the government, they claimed that their properties do not fall under forest land, which the government is currently verifying.
After the notices were served on the wedding hall owners earlier, they had moved the apex court petitioning that their lands do not fall under forest area and that they are not encroachers. The Supreme Court had then asked them to make a representation before competent authorities who had served demolition and eviction notices on them. It also directed the authorities concerned to consider their representation as may be needed.
While issuing adjournment orders on Monday, a division bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari directed the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad to complete the removal of unauthorised structures on forest land within the next two weeks. To this, Arun Bhardwaj, additional advocate general appearing for Haryana state, told the court that farmhouses on the forest land have already been demolished.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court in the first week of August had instructed the Haryana government to consider the draft policy on rehabilitation submitted by the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad for those who were evicted from Khori Gaon, and take a final decision preferably before August 25.
On the other hand, the top court had also directed the Faridabad municipal commissioner to briefly indicate the outcome of the representations regarding rehabilitation made by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for one of the petitioners before the commissioner.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had also ordered the municipal commissioner to consider its direction of establishing an “extended office” at Radha Saomi complex to reach out to locals who are currently housed at a rehabilitation facility and to consider their grievances.
On July 7, the Supreme Court had directed the authorities concerned to remove all illegal structures that came up on forest land in Khori Gaon with six weeks, rejecting pleas for a stay on demolition.
Residents of Khori Gaon have been protesting the evictions, saying the police and forest authorities have been exploiting them for years by taking bribes. Now, they argue, they need proper rehabilitation if they are to be evicted.