The Uttarakhand High Court stayed all further development and construction works at Jilling Estate, which is a small village in Nainital, till December 15. The court compared Google Maps images of the area from 2015, 2018 and 2022 and stated that there was substantial depletion of green cover between 2015 and 2018.
The bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe compared the pictures sourced from Google Maps, which were placed on record by the petitioner. “Between 2018 and 2022, it appears that even in the area with a dense population of trees, roads have been constructed or broadened and extended,” the bench observed.
Clarifying that since the images were taken from Google Maps and a conclusion based on them could not be final, the bench said, “However, for prima facie evaluation, we certainly can take notice of these pictures.”
Hence, taking into account the seriousness of the matter, the high court ordered for a fresh inspection of the entire Jilling Estate and directed a report to be filed within two weeks so as to proceed in the matter.
The order was passed on a PIL moved by petitioner Birendra Singh in 2020 against construction by Devanya Private Resorts at Jilling Estate.
The court appointed Dr Dvijendra Kumar Sharma, IFS (Retd) as the court commissioner to carry out the local physical on-the-spot inspection of the area. The HC asked him to furnish a report, particularly stating whether the concerned resorts have carried out development works, including in the 8.5-hectare area, which has dense tree cover in the excess of 40 per cent and is likely to be declared as a deemed forest.
In 2018, Singh had moved the National Green Tribunal against the resorts for allegedly creating a township at Jilling Estate causing damage to the ecology without having environmental clearance.
The NGT, however, dismissed the application placing reliance on a report filed by the court commissioner appointed by it. Singh, thereafter, filed another appeal before the Supreme Court, which in 2020, ordered a survey and demarcation of the area in three patches of the Jilling estate where the forest density appeared to be 40 per cent or more.
In that survey, it was found that about 8.5 hectares out of the entire Jilling Estate, which covers a total 36 hectares, appeared to have a high density of forest cover in the range of 40 per cent or more. Following that, the top court ordered a demarcation of the area necessary to determine whether the same would eventually be classified as ‘deemed forest’.
In the instant PIL, the division bench of the HC found that the order of the SC had not been complied with. Before initiating contempt of court proceedings against the erring officers, the court granted two weeks’ time to the state authorities to strictly comply with its order as well as the SC order, and then file a report.
The matter will come up for further hearing on December 15.
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