Himachal HC forms panel to probe ‘illegal felling’ in Mandi’s Nachan

The Division Bench of Himachal HC passed the order on a petition taken up suo motu by the court as public interest litigation, on a letter addressed to the chief justice, by one Raju, a resident of Chail Chowk. The petitioner has alleged that at the behest of the DFO, Nachan, who is posted as such, for more than five years, thousands of green trees have been felled in the forest division, Nachan.

The High Court of Himachal Pradesh has constituted a committee comprising of the deputy commissioner, superintendent of police, and the secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Mandi, to probe into the allegations of illegal felling of trees in Nachan forest division of the district.

The HC of Himachal Pradesh has constituted a committee comprising of the deputy commissioner, superintendent of police, and the secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Mandi, to probe into the allegations of illegal felling of trees in Nachan forest division of the district. (Getty Images/Representational image)

The Division Bench comprising the chief justice, MS Ramachandra Rao, and justice Ajay Mohan Goel passed the order on a petition taken up suo motu by the court as public interest litigation, on a letter addressed to the chief justice, by one Raju, a resident of Chail Chowk.

The petitioner has alleged that at the behest of the DFO, Nachan, who is posted as such, for more than five years, thousands of green trees have been felled in the forest division, Nachan. The petitioner has further alleged that 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 Shikari Devi-Dehar Road. It has been further alleged that on the behest of the DFO, a ground has been constructed at Chail Chowk, at a distance of about 100 meters from Rest House by destroying about 500 green trees.

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

The respondents have disputed the allegations levelled by the petitioner in the reply filed by them. Therefore, the court has directed the committee to verify 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 is listed for the next hearing on October 10.