The High Court of Uttarakhand has expressed dissatisfaction at the State Government, Dehradun cantonment board, Municipal Corporation of Dehradun and the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) not submitting replies in the court for three months regarding encroachment in Dehradun.
The division bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice RC Khulbe has given the government and the bodies two weeks to submit their reply in the court.
According to the case details, Dehradun resident Akash Yadav had filed a public interest litigation stating that the municipal corporation is not removing the encroachments made on government land, roads and nalas in the city.
Encroachments have been made once again at the very sites from where encroachments were removed in the past. The petitioner stated that on several occasions he had submitted reports to the state government, municipal corporation and the MDDA regarding encroachment not being removed from various areas in the city.
However, neither were the reports heard nor were the encroachments removed, the petitioner has stated.
It is pertinent to mention here that the State Government and departments concerned have undertaken anti-encroachment drives in Dehradun on the directions of the high court. However, apart from some sites, the encroachments and illegal construction in many areas have either returned or remained unaffected.
Observers opine that political compulsions are preventing the authorities from taking effective concrete action to rid the city of encroachments despite the major problems being created by encroachments and illegal constructions in the provisional state capital.