The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government and said it was "sleeping" for the past 26 years on the illegal settlement of claims in favour of industries and third parties in the reserved forest areas of Mirzapur district.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, M R Shah and B R Gavai refused to pass any ex-parte orders on quashing of such claims and said there might be thousands of crores of rupees invested by the industries in these areas.
The state government said it wanted quashing of all such illegal claims settled by forest settlement officer after the cut-off date of July 18, 1994, fixed by the apex court.
"This has been going on since 1994 and now after 26 years you have come. You were sleeping for 26 years and now you are asking us to remove everyone," the court said.
"What were you doing all these years? Do you not have any disciplinary control over these forest officers?" it asked.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh government, said the apex court had in 1986 fixed the cut-off date of July 18, 1994, for settlement of claims but these were going on till date.
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In some instances, Mehta said, claims were settled in favour of people who were not even the residents of the state and, in some cases, claims were entertained and settled for the piece of land, for which the claim was already settled.
Mehta said these claims were adjudicated contrary to the apex court's 1994 order, in which it had said that no third party or industry could be allotted land in these reserved forest areas. He said there may be over 1,100 beneficiaries of such claims, including some public sector units.
The bench sought the list of all those people and establishments, including industries in whose favour the claims were settled, by next week.
"We cannot pass ex-parte orders. Before we declare the allotment as void, we would like to hear them," the bench said. "There are NTPC, UP state electricity board and others. We cannot simply remove them who are there for over 20 years."
"There may be thousands of crores rupees involved as several industries have invested there. You submit a list of all the claimants, who have been given land in forest areas since 1994, by next week," it said.
The bench also asked the state government to find out whether the forest settlement officer were still passing any orders on the claims.
The Uttar Pradesh government, in its application, has sought declaring "as null and void all such orders passed after July 18, 1994, by the forest settlement officer and additional district judge".
It had also sought setting aside of the orders passed in favour of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) and Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board (UPSEB) and others by the forest settlement officer and additional district judge.
The state government had also sought setting aside of those orders in which the claim was already adjudicated and fresh claims for the same piece of land were being made by third parties.
"Set aside the orders in which the forest settlement officers and additional district judge have declared the land to be jungle, bushes, river and to be part of the proposed reserved forest but have been illegally declared as 'banjar' (barren) and thereafter pattas given in favour of third parties," it said.
The state government also sought direction restraining the forest settlement officer of Sonabhadra and additional district judge of Anapara at Obra in disposing of the pending claims.
The dispute over the forest land started when Uttar Pradesh in 1980s declared two tehsils of Mirzapur district as reserved forest land, which affected the habitat of tribals living in those areas for generations.
On a letter written by an NGO named Banwasi Sewa Ashram, a writ petition was registered by the top court with regard to the claims of these tribals to the land and their related rights.
In October 1983, the top court directed that the claims of tribals for possession of land and its regularisation be investigated by a high-powered committee, which identified 433 villages relevant for the dispute and estimated around 1.82 lakh acres as in an unauthorised occupation.
On July 18, 1994, the apex court closed the proceedings in the case with a direction that the additional district judge adjudicating the claims of tribals was to function till September 30, 1994, by which date he was to conclude the hearing of all the appeals.
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