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HC issues contempt notice to Haryana forest secy over Morni Hills

Bench slams state for ‘delaying the process on one pretext or the other’ in notifying area as reserved forest, seven months after strict deadline.

3 min readChandigarhJan 31, 2026 09:52 PM IST

HC issues contempt notice to Haryana forest secy over Morni Hills

The court had mandated the Forest Settlement Officer (FSO) to “forthwith, take requisite steps to ensure expeditious submission of his report”. (File Photo)

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has taken suo motu cognizance and issued a contempt notice to Vasvi Tyagi, Secretary to the Government of Haryana, Forest and Wildlife Department, for alleged willful non-compliance with its June 2025 order directing expeditious demarcation and notification of Morni Hills as a Reserved Forest.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel on Friday expressed strong displeasure over the state’s failure to act more than seven months after the court’s final directions in CWP-469-2017 (Vijay Bansal vs State of Haryana and Others).

In its order dated June 20, 2025, the court had mandated the Forest Settlement Officer (FSO) to “forthwith, take requisite steps to ensure expeditious submission of his report” and directed the State of Haryana to issue a notification under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, declaring the scheduled land as a Reserved Forest latest by December 31, 2025.

The bench had also ordered all necessary documents and facilities to be provided to the FSO and continued an interim restraint on non-forest activities in the Morni Hills area covered by a 1987 notification.

However, the court noted that the state unilaterally converted the single-member FSO body into a three-member committee on September 17, 2025, without seeking any clarification or review. No steps have since been taken for demarcation or survey.

Also Read | Ensure no illegal construction in notified areas of Morni, high court tells Haryana

“It is extremely unfortunate to note that, before issuing the notification dated September 17, 2025 appointing a three-member body, the State of Haryana did not approach this court for clarification or review of the final order dated June 20, 2025. Further, it is now more than seven months since the passing of the said order, and no steps have been initiated with regard to the demarcation/survey of Morni Hills,” the bench observed.

The court went on to state: “Accordingly, it appears that the functionaries of the State of Haryana are in no mood to proceed with the demarcation/survey of Morni Hills and are delaying the process on one pretext or the other, for reasons best known to them.”

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Morni Hills, Haryana’s only hill station, has long been the subject of conservation litigation to protect its forested landscape from non-forest activities.

The matter is listed for further hearing on February 20.