Massive win for the Himanta govt as Gauhati High Court directs illegal encroachers to vacate reserve forest land in Assam: Here is what you should know
On Monday (18th August), the Gauhati High Court ruled in favour of evicting families that have illegally encroached upon Doyang and Nambor reserve forests in Golaghat district of Assam.
The verdict was delivered by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury.
The Bench was hearing petitions that were filed by 74 people, living in Doyang and Nambor reserve forests. They had previously been served notices by the Golaghat district administration to vacate the forest land within 7 days.
The illegal encroachers thereafter moved the Gauhati High Court, challenging the notices served to them.
They alleged that the notices violated provisions of the Assam Land Policy of 2019, Assam Land and Revenue Regulation of 1886 and an order of the Supreme Court dated 13th December 2024.
On 5th August this year, the Division Bench had given 10 days to the petitioners to provide documentary evidence of their land rights.
After the petitioners failed to furnish evidence, the Gauhati High Court on Monday ruled that the petitioners must vacate the forest reserves by Sunday (24th August) or get evicted by the Golaghat district administration.
Observations made by the Gauhati High Court
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury directed the Assam government to take stringent measures to prevent further illegal entry and settlement in Doyang and Nambor reserve forests.
The court ruled, “A proper check mechanism needs to be put in place which would prevent any illegal entry in reserve forest area. It could be by way of checking the entry points, putting barbed wires at porous borders and setting up of functional check posts.”
“All this (measures) would become effective only if the officers and persons managing such check posts do their job honestly and efficiently. If ever any such illegal entry is found, necessary penal action should be initiated against the officials,” it further added.
The Judges directed the government to come up with regulations and institutional mechanisms that preserve forests and penalise forest officers who allow illegal or unauthorised entry to forest reserves.
They called for constant surveillance of reserve forest areas to uphold ecological balance. The Gauhati High Court noted that enough time was given to the petitioners to vacate the Doyang and Nambor reserve forests.
It issued a future guideline of 15 days’ notice, followed by a period of another 15 days for encroachers to vacate government-owned land.
The Himanta Biswa Sarma government has so far cleared 1 lakh bighas of land from illegal encroachers.
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