The petitioner has alleged that the land has been wrongly partitioned and consolidated into private ownership. It has been told through the petitioner that Mangar is home to the largest variety of fauna in the entire Aravali Hills and the only one containing all 12 large-mammalian species. (Representative/ File)After hearing a petition seeking restoration of forested land of Mangar Bani village under Aravali hills area back to the gram panchayat, the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) issued notice to the Centre, and others.
The notice has been issued by the division Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli, for February 9, 2023.
The petitioner, Lieutenant Colonel Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi (Retd), 73, through counsel, Shreenath A Khemka, contended that Mangar in Faridabad is home to the Aravalli hills, an ecological preserve.
Of the total 4,262 acres of Mangar Bani, 3,810 acres is ‘gair mumkin pahar’ (uncultivable forest land).
Pursuant to the Punjab Village Common Lands Act 1961, the gair mumkin pahar is vested with the gram panchayat, as recorded in the 1963-64 jamabandi (revenue record).
The petitioner submitted that “Lands put to cultivation were excluded from the said 3,810 acres.
However, within 10 years, the entire gair mumkin pahar was sold into private ownership. In the 1980s, the entire village was consolidated, despite 3,810 acres of gair mumkin pahar being neither agricultural land nor fragmented. Subsequently, attempts were made to deforest the area. Despite a 2015 expert committee report identifying Mangar as being thickly forested and having already suffered irreversible ecological damage, the fate of the Aravallis still hangs by a threat.”
The petitioner has alleged that the land has been wrongly partitioned and consolidated into private ownership.
It has been told through the petitioner that Mangar is home to the largest variety of fauna in the entire Aravali Hills and the only one containing all 12 large-mammalian species.
Around 235 bird species have also been sighted in Mangar. Recognising its ecological importance, the NCR planning board in its meeting dated April 25, 2014, directed Haryana to protect Mangar Bani by creating a 500 meter buffer as a no construction zone.
The same was adopted into the Haryana gazette notification dated June 13, 2006.
The petitioner has also sought directions to protect the vulnerable flora and fauna in the Aravalli hills of Mangar.