Rajiv Sharma, J.
Lok Pal Singh, J.
A startling revelation has been made as per the averments made in the petition that there was large scale carving out of commercial plots from the
agricultural land / orchard land, including the illicit felling of trees, in violation of the U.P. Protection of Trees in Rural and Hill Areas Act, 1976, in the
area falling under the “Doon Special Area Development Authorityâ€, particularly, near Herbertpur, Vikas Nagar and in close proximity of
Dehradun town. Petitioner has prayed for taking action against the person who are responsible for committing illegalities by constituting special team.
Unauthorized construction has been permitted by the respondent no. 4. The respondent no. 4 has been constituted under the U.P. Special Area
Development Authorities Act, 1986. The purpose of constituting the Special Area Development Authority is to regulate the construction activities in
accordance with law. It has come on record that various unscrupulous persons have raised unauthorized construction without getting their building
plans approved.
2. We have gone through the contents of the counter filed by respondent no. 4. The matter has not proceeded beyond issuance of the notices.
3. Learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of respondent no. 4 submitted that the demolition orders could not be issued since the persons have
obtained injunction orders from the civil court. He also submitted at the Bar that civil court has the jurisdiction in the matters. We are aghast at the
submission made by learned Senior Advocate. The person intending to raise construction has to move an application before the Special Area
Development Authority. The application is to be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
4. Section 24 of the U.P. Special Area Development Authorities Act, 1986, deals with the offences. It prescribes that any person who has undertaken
or carried out the development of any land in contravention of the master plan or sector plan, or without the permission, approval or sanction referred
to in Section 14 or in contravention of any condition subject to which such permission, approval or sanction has been granted, shall be punishable with
fine and punishment under Sub-section (3) of Section 24 of the Act.
5. Section 25 of the Act reads as under:
“25. Order of demolition of building. â€
(1) ……..
(2) ……..
(3) Any person aggrieved by an order passed under Sub-section (1) may within thirty days from the date of such order, prefer an appeal to the
Commission of the division and the decision of the Commissioner in such appeal shall be final.
(4) ……..
6. Section 26 of the Act empowers the Authorities to stop the development.
7. It is clear from the phraseology of Sub-section(3) of Section 25 that any person aggrieved by an order passed under Sub-section (1) may within
thirty days from the date of such order, prefer an appeal before the Commissioner of the Division and the decision of the Commissioner is final.
8. The persons, who have raised the unauthorized construction, should have filed appeals as provided for under Sub-section (3) of Section 25 instead
of filing the suits in the civil courts. The civil court could not be oblivious to Sub-section (3) of Section 25. The suits filed by these persons, who have
raised unauthorized construction without getting their maps approved, were not maintainable.
9. The U.P. Special Area Development Authorities Act, 1986, as applicable mutatis mutandis to the State of Uttarakhand, is a self contained Code.
10. It was expected from the respondent no. 4 to contest all the suits by taking a preliminary objection that the suits per se were not maintainable
before the civil court. The orders passed by the civil court granting injunction to the persons, who have raised unauthorized construction are without
authority of law. The civil courts have exceeded their jurisdiction by granting stays against the demolition orders.
11. The next fundamental issue is â€" could the unauthorized construction be carried under the very nose of the officers / officials of respondent no.
4? The answer is ‘No’. No construction could be raised without the connivance / collusion of the officers / officials of the Special Area
Development Authority. The officers / officials of SADA were remiss to discharge their statutory duties. They were authorized to stop the
development under Section 26 of the Act. It was not expected from the Authorities to keep on issuing the notices only.
12. The unauthorized construction encourages the unscrupulous people to raise the unauthorized construction. The honest people always suffer. It has
come in the counter that the statutory authority has only informed the agriculture department and forest department about the illicit felling of trees.
Thereafter it has not taken any action. It is a case where the buck has been passed from ‘A’ to ‘B’. Nobody has shouldered the
responsibility. The cutting of large scale trees unauthorizedly has degraded the environment and ecology of the area. The area is in the foot hills of
Himalayas. Every effort should have been made to preserve the trees by taking stringent action against the persons who have felled the trees for the
development of colonies.
13. The State Government has not taken any action till date to check the mushrooming of unregulated societies throughout the State of Uttarakhand.
The colonizers and societies have flouted every norm while raising the construction. The valuable agricultural land has been permitted to be carved out
as plots. In the State of Uttarakhand the agricultural land is very limited. The menace of unauthorized construction has attained alarming proportions.
It is required to be checked at the earliest. The officers / officials, who are privy to the unaurhorized construction / felling of trees are required to be
brought to justice.
14. Accordingly, present petition is disposed of. The following mandatory directions are issued:
(i) The Chief Secretary to the State of Uttarakhand is directed to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by a person not below the
rank of Inspector General of Police and the Senior Superintendent of Police to register FIRs against the officers / officials of SADA, including the
highest officers, in whose tenure large scale unauthorized construction was raised and illicit felling of trees has taken place. The Inspector General of
Police while registering the FIR against the officers / officials will ensure that the axe will not fall on the lowest employee.
The SADA as well as the petitioner are directed to supply the necessary material to the Inspector General of Police, heading the SIT. All the parties
are directed to render all assistance to the SIT, including the forest and revenue departments.
(ii) The SIT shall thoroughly investigate the matter and fix the responsibility on each officer / official who were remiss in discharge of their statutory
duties permitting rising of unauthorized construction and felling of trees within three months.
(iii) The Head of the Department shall initiate disciplinary proceedings separately against the officers / officials, even if the employees have retired, in
whose tenure the unauthorized construction, including illicit felling of trees, was carried out in the area within a period of one month from today.
(iv) The State Government is recommended / suggested to make suitable Law to regulate the construction for group housing complexes within a
period of three months from today.
(v) The State Government shall not permit the use of agricultural land recorded in revenue records as agricultural land to be converted for group
housing complexes taking into consideration the acute shortage of farming land in the State of Uttarakhand. It is made clear that this will not apply to a
farmer who wants to build a house for himself, as per the U.P.Z.A. & L.R. Act, till suitable legislation is made. In other words, there shall be ban on
conversion of agricultural land / orchard land for construction of group housing projects / complexes, including by the societies, till the enactment of
law.
(vi) All the civil courts in the State of Uttarakhand shall not entertain any civil suit arising under the provisions of the U.P. Special Area Development
Authorities Act, 1986, including against the demolition orders.
(vii) The SADA is directed also to register FIRs against the persons who have raised unauthorized construction within eight weeks from today.
15. The Registrar General of this Court is directed to summon the records from the respective courts who have granted injunction orders staying the
demolition orders passed by the statutory authorities in the matter arising under the U.P. Special Area Development Authorities Act, 1986, within a
period of three weeks from today.
16. The Registrar General is also directed to place a copy of the order rendered by Civil Judge (S.D.), Vikas Nagar, Dehradun, in civil suit no. 82 of
2013, vide order dated 22nd October, 2013 before Hon’ble the Chief Justice for taking suitable action against Judicial Officer for passing the
orders without jurisdiction.
