Demarcation of delisted land: NGT seeks replies from 6 Punjab DCs

The PAC, which describes itself as citizens’ collective with “no political affiliation and no land interest in the Shivalik foothills”, has recently launched Shivalik Morcha.

The statement, quitting PAC member Jaskirat Singh, alleged that while a promised demarcation exercise could not be carried in over 15 years, the state government, in 2025, notified a policy permitting regularisation and fresh permissions in the ecologically sensitive region.

It said that in a meeting chaired by the then Chief Secretary on April 26, 2010, Punjab government had formally decided that all “delisted” PLPA land in the Shivalik-Kandi belt would be demarcated district-wise, village-wise and khasra-wise using CAMPA funds earmarked for forest protection. “Fifteen years have passed. The demarcation has not been done,” it added.

During the same period, it alleged, “hundreds of farmhouses, resorts, banquet halls and estate-style constructions” came up across the Shivalik foothills, including on land whose legal status remained undetermined.

The committee described the Shivalik-Kandi belt as Punjab’s “last contiguous forest mass” and said the issue carried major environmental implications for the state that has only 3.67 per cent forest cover as against the national benchmark of 33 per cent. It further claimed that nearly 68 per cent of Punjab’s existing forest cover lies in the six districts targeted under the LIGH Policy.

“This is not spare land,” the committee said, calling the region Punjab’s watershed, wildlife corridor and soil stabiliser.

The PAC further alleged that the LIGH Policy disregards conditions laid down by the Supreme Court while permitting limited “delisting” of certain PLPA land in 2005 in the TN Godavarman matter.

According to the committee, the apex court had allowed delisting only subject to conditions that the land would not be used for commercial activity and would remain restricted to bona fide agricultural use linked to livelihood needs of existing residents.

The committee also cited approvals issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2006 and 2009 and a clarification dated March 27, 2015, which, it alleged, reiterated that any non-forest use on such land would attract provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

For PAC, Senior Advocate R.S. Bains along with advocate Shehbaz Thind, argued the matter before a bench comprising Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Chairperson, and Expert Member Dr Afroz Ahmad.

The PAC said it has sought a stay on the operation of the LIGH Policy.