HC seeks Uttarakhand govt’s response to plea over illegal constructions in foothills

The application pointed out a serious threat to the fragile ecology of the foothills between Dehradun and Mussoorie due to unchecked illegal constructions

Published on: Apr 22, 2026, 16:36:24 IST

By Neeraj Santoshi

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The Uttarakhand high court on Wednesday directed the state government to file a response to an urgency application pointing out a serious threat to the fragile ecology of the foothills between Dehradun and Mussoorie due to unchecked illegal constructions.

The state government amended building by laws in 2015 to introduce Clause 4.4 to regulate constructions in fragile hill belts.

Reenu Paul, a Dehradun resident and former National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, faculty member, filed the application in a 2021 public interest litigation (PIL).

Advocate Abhijay Negi, who appeared for Paul before a bench of Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay, called the stretch where the Dehradun plains meet the rising Mussoorie hills a critical ecological and conservation zone.

Negi said rampant building activity continues in the area despite regulations against it. He added the state government amended building by laws in 2015 to introduce Clause 4.4 to regulate construction in fragile hill belts, but its implementation on the ground remains “virtually non-existent”.

He said the petitioner has placed recent evidence before the court to show that construction activity has intensified during the period when the PIL remained pending.

Negi said the respondents have filed their replies, and a rejoinder has also been submitted, but the matter had not been listed for nearly two years. “The urgency application details how the situation has gone from bad to worse in the foothill area during this period,” he said.

The high court noted the submissions and directed the state government to file its reply to the urgency application within three weeks.

The petition said the state government notified nine areas within these foothills as ecologically sensitive through a government order dated February 5, 2019. It added that the foothill area acts as a crucial ecological buffer and carbon sink for the Doon Valley. The plea said the region has increasingly become a hotspot for unauthorised constructions due to a lack of enforcement.

The original PIL cited amendments to the Uttarakhand Building Construction and Development Bylaws, 2011, and said it disallowed building in areas where landslide intensity is high or where the natural slope exceeds 30 degrees. It added that unchecked constructions continued in the ecologically sensitive stretch despite these restrictions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

Public Interest Litigation

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