The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Monday refused to modify its interim directions to clear encroachments on forest land by fruit growers by October, adding that electricity and water connections of the encroachers should be disconnected.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan said the government officers, comprising the chief secretary and the principal secretary (forests), are held responsible to pluck the apples (grown on the encroached land), conduct their sale and utilise the sale price for planting forest trees.

Getting tough, the high court on April 6 directed the government to clear the encroachments by the fruit growers on forest land within six months.

A division bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, in an interim order, had observed that all crops and plants existing on such lands shall be destroyed, cut and uprooted at the expense of the encroachers...............Read more

Source web page: Zee News