Eviction notices issued by the forest department to many property owners in the colony have left them in a lurch
Please sir, help us. We have lived in our old house in Sainik Farms for over 30 years but there is a sword of Damocles hanging over us ever since the forest department pasted an eviction notice on our gate claiming that part of the property is part of their land,” a woman called us last week from a Western Avenue lane.
Our probe revealed that many residents were facing a similar issue, and are frustrated by the apathetic attitude of government officials.
The notices issued by the department of forests and wildlife, Government of Delhi mention an NGT case filed by environmentalist Sonya Ghosh, who had pointed out that the fragile ecology of the Delhi Ridge, an extension of the Aravalli Range extending from Tuglaqabad in the south and Wazirabad in north Delhi was being ravaged due to human encroachment.
The Ridge acts as the ‘green lungs’ of the worst polluted city in the world and as a barrier to the area turning into a desert-like adjoining Rajasthan.
The NGT passed a substantive order on January 15, 2021, observing that Supreme Court had issued directions for the protection of the Ridge while hearing writ petitions in 1996. The SC had ordered vast swathes of uncultivated Gaon Sabha land (common village land) in 14 villages located on the Southern Ridge to be merged into the ‘Reserved Forest’. This land, located in urban villages including Neb Sarai, Satbari, Asola, Dera Mandi, Bhatti, Chhattarpur and Rajokri came to about 4,000 hectares.
The NGT observed that “no non-forest activity is permissible in the Ridge area” and directed Delhi govt to notify all pieces of land which was un-encroached upon and handed over to the forest department to be notified under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act and secured within three months. This process is the final step in preserving land declared as ‘Reserved Forest’.
However, the Delhi forest department has failed to take possession of over 850 hectares (1 hectare is equal to 10,000 square meters) of forest and gram sabha land on the Southern Ridge itself, official documents indicate.
Recently, Delhi High Court rapped the forest department for the slow progress in retrieving the forest land since over 80% of it remains under encroachment. In Sainik Farms too, the department is not making any effort to get the re-demarcation done to claim its land through necessary administrative or legal measures. An NGT panel headed by additional secretary, Union ministry of forest & environment expressed similar concern in a meeting held just a few days back. He issued directions to hold fortnightly meetings of district task force to expedite recovery of forest land.
Meanwhile, hundreds of alleged encroachers owning properties in localities such as Sainik Farms, Satbari and Asola have obtained stay orders from Delhi High Court after getting eviction notices from the forest department. The Delhi forest and revenue departments followed due process of law by issuing public notices asking the encroachers to hand over the forest land to the government, but they failed to follow up on court orders that fresh demarcation be done as many residents claim that their property does not fall in forest land.
For instance, District Magistrate (South) and Sub Divisional Magistrate (Saket) had issued public notices in newspapers in 2019 with respect to several khasra numbers, asking the owners to vacate the land forthwith, pointing out that demarcation had been done using TSM and DGPS methods. In 2022, DCF (South) issued notices to many such residents in Sainik Farms, in areas such as Western Avenue and Forest Lane. Residents who got court relief in the form of orders issued by it to the revenue department to carry out fresh redemarcation remain a harassed lot as the department routinely ignores their pleas to carry out the exercise.
“I had submitted an application to concerned officials in the SDM office to carry out demarcation of my property as per Delhi High Court’s order on my writ petition filed in August, 2022. Despite making several rounds to the patwari and even meeting the SDM personally, nothing materialized. In fact, the staff actually demanded lakhs of rupees to carry out the demarcation,” rued a resident of Lane W 12, requesting anonymity.
He said there was great apprehension in the minds of property owners in his immediate vicinity since even their access road was slated to be taken over the forest department, except that there was no clarity on the time-frame for it. “We can’t even sell off our properties since prospective buyers will back off once they get a whiff of the forest department breathing down our necks. I just wish they decide it one way or the other so that we get closure on the issue,” he added.
“Such residents can file a contempt petition against the revenue department since it can’t just ignore the orders of the High Court to carry out demarcation within a certain time period,” said Shivamm Sharrma, an advocate, when asked to comment on the matter. “If the land actually belongs to the forest department, it must be ceded to it, but if there is a dispute over it, the same must be settled in accordance with the settled law of the land and the prescribed procedure without delay,” he added.
Several owners of properties in Forest Lane and other areas of Sainik Farms too face a similar uncertainty and expressed hope that the issue gets settled once and for all. There are also, incidentally, disconcerting reports of collusion and corruption, with a forest department informer claiming that certain RWA office-holders themselves were acting as middlemen between the affected residents and officials of the forest/ revenue departments. However, no one is willing to go on the record on the matter. Efforts made to elicit the comments of DCF (South) and SDM (Saket) did not bear fruit till the time the newspaper went to press. This newspaper is in the process of filing applications under the RTI Act to collate information on the vexed issue.
