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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
Ajay Sura | TNN

Aravali Hills: HC notice to Centre, Haryana on a plea for defragmentation, restoration of forested land of Mangar Bani

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday issued notice to the Centre, Haryana government, National Capital Region Planning Board and others on a plea for defragmentation and restoration of forested land of Mangar Bani village under Aravali hills area back to the village Panchayat.

According to the plea the land has been wrongly partitioned and consolidated into private ownership. Further directions have also been sought to protect the vulnerable flora and fauna in the Aravali Hills of village Mangar.

Division bench Comprising Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli of the HC has issued the notice after taking cognizance of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Lt Col Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi, a resident of Gurgaon.

In his PIL, Lt Col Oberoi, 73, has submitted that village Mangar in Faridabad is home to the Aravalli Hills which have been Identified as an ecological preserve. Of the total area of 4262 acres of ecological Mangar, 3810 acres is ‘Gair Mumkin Pahar’ (Aravalli Hills), which is uncultivated. Pursuant to the Punjab Village Common Lands Act 1961, the Gair Mumkin Pahar vested with the Gram Panchayat as recorded in the 1963-64 Jamabandi (revenue record).

"It must be noted that lands being put to cultivation were excluded from the said 3810 acres. However, within a short span of 10-years the entire ‘Gair Mumkin Pahar’ was sold into private ownership. In the 1980s the entire village was consolidated, despite 3810 acres of Gair Mumkin Pahar being neither agricultural land nor fragmented. Subsequently, attempts were made to deforest the area. Despite the 2015 expert committee report identifying Mangar as being thickly forested and having already suffered irreversible ecological damage, the fate of the Aravali still hangs by a threat,” the petition has contended.

The petitioner, a retired army officer, has claimed himself to be a public-spirited ‘environmental activist’ who spearheaded several litigations before the NGT, Supreme Court and other courts to protect the ecology.

Counsel for the petitioner, advocate Shreenath A Khemka contended that the Aravali Hills have been identified as a hot-spot for biodiversity (both flora and fauna) and are essential for preserving the regional climate and ecological balance in the NCR. It is serving as a catchment zone for ground water aquifer, green preserves for air purification and a bulk work against desertification.

"The hills run around the periphery of Delhi through the bordering state of Haryana. Mangar falls within the contiguous Aravali zone. The total area of the village is 4262 acres, wherein around 3810 acres is Gair Mumkin Pahar (Aravali Hills) which is thickly forested and uncultivated. It must be noted that the northern part of the village was already notified under the Punjab land presentation Act 1900," Khmeka had submitted.

The HC was also informed that Mangar is home to the largest variety of fauna in the entire Aravali Hills and the only one containing all 12 large-mammalian species. Around 235 bird species have also been sighted in Mangar. Recognizing its ecological importance, the NCR planning board in its meeting dated April 25, 2014 directed Haryana to protect the Mangar Bani by creating a 500 meter buffer as a no construction zone. The same was adopted into the Haryana gazette notification dated June 13, 2006.

It has also been alleged by the petitioner that the state was seemingly complicit in misappropriation of the forested Gair Mumkin Pahar (Aravali Hills) and was deliberately dragging the status of the Aravali Hills as forest under the Forest (conservation) Act 1980.

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