The
Lucknow bench of High Court has issued a show-cause
notice to the UP State Irrigation Department, asking
why it did not return 802.3 hectares of land belonging
to the Corbett National Park (CNP) after completion of
a dam. The notice followed a petition filed by the
Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) here.
The Uttar
Pradesh Forest Department (UPFD) had in 1961
temporarily transferred 8,390.69 hectares of land to
the Irrigation Department for construction of the
Kalagarh dam on the Ramganga river within CNP.
Over 802 hectares was used to set up an Irrigation
Colony for infrastructural requirements. According to
an agreement between the two departments on August 22,
1966, this expanse of land was to have been reverted
to UPFD as soon as the dam was completed.
The
Irrigation Department was through with the dam in
1971. However, the land was not transferred and
the colony, which blocked the principal migratory
route of the westernmost population of Asian
elephants, was gradually illegally taken over by
people who had nothing to do with irrigation.
The
Hindustan Times had on April 30 reported how this dam
and the colony has been affecting wildlife of CNP.
Acting on that report, the WPSI filed a public
interest litigation on Thursday.
Hearing
the petition, a two-judge bench comprising Justice
Pradeep Kant and Justice MA Khan of the Allahabad High
Court directed the UPFD and the Irrigation Department
to file separate affidavits explaining why the 1966
agreement was not adhered to.
The
Irrigation Department was also told to file a copy of
its report prepared in June, 1997, on the current
status of the land and the structures thereon which
were to have been handed over to UPFD after completion
of the project.
Arguing
for WPSI, represented by its vice-president, Mr Ashok
Kumar, the advocate duo of Mr Raj Panjwani and Mr
Jaideep Mathur, said the Irrigation Department had in
a letter dated January 2, 1986, agreed to transfer
land to the Police Department for a police academy.
The move was opposed by UPFD and the proposal was
subsequently dropped, but it showed that the
Irrigation Department no longer required the land.
The
advocate duo also submitted that the land had been
converted into a junkyard, housing old and obsolete
equipment and vehicles. The structures meant for
engineers and other staff were being illegally
occupied by unauthorised persons, they pointed out.
For example, House No. E-4 was being occupied by one
Rameshwari Devi, an ex-MLA, who had nothing to do with
the Irrigation Department.
