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Journalism of Courage
THE majestic mountains of Himchal have always attracted admiration but these days they are inviting an outpouring of concern as well. With colonisers plundering the hills, there is a growing sense of outrage against the executive for failing to play its role of a guardian. No wonder the legal corridors are abuzz with loud pleas, calling for judicial intervention to prevent the government from vandalising the hill towns of Shimla, Kasauli, Dalhousie, Chamba, Kullu, Mandi and Dharamsala.
8216;8216;We do not want to remember the lost wilderness of the hills as the cost of development. Let the hills remain as beautiful as they originally were,8217;8217; says Trisha Sharma, an advocate at the Himachal Pradesh High Court. 8216;8216;It has become important to save these towns. We have moved the court urging it to declare these towns eco-sensitive zones under the provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 on the lines of Pachmarhi, Matheran, Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani,8217;8217; she says.
Baljit Malik, one of the founders of the Kasauli Bachao Andolan, has also been fighting a relentless battle to save the environs of the quaint little hill town which is home to some sensitive defence installations. His stinging letter to the Himachal Pradesh High Court was taken up as a public interest litigation. Malik contended that some influential people have been carrying out construction activity near the defence installations in a blatant violation of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972. The Amicus Curie in the case, Rajiv Sharma, has argued that the law must be implemented and any failure of the authorities to check constructions is negation of the rule of law. 8216;8216;It also sends a wrong signal to everyone in the society,8217;8217; he says.
During the hearing of this case, the IAF authorities said they had asked the district collector to check the construction activity under the provisions of The Works of Defence Act, 1903 which rules that no building or structure shall be constructed and no tree planted in the vicinity of 900 metres from the crest of the outer parapet of IAF aerodrome and installations.
The restrictions are imposed on defence installations, including the radar stations and communication establishments. In an affidavit, Group Capt S. Mukhopadhay, station commander, Air Force Station, Kasauli, says the government had issued a notification on May 22, 2001 providing for issuance of notices to stop
construction activity. 8216;8216;A communication in this behalf was made to the district collector on August 14, 2001 requesting that an appropriate authority may be asked not to grant any construction permission within 900 metres of the station,8217;8217; says the Station Commander.
The court record shows that the collector took up the matter with the financial commissioner, HP government, on December 12, 2001 and various clarifications were sought from the defence authorities over the issue.
Meanwhile, the period of the notification expired on
December 9, 2002. The then senior administrative officer Sqdn Leader M M Singh, in a letter to the DC, pointed out that he should put an end to the sale of land for residential purposes along the road from Garkhal to Jabli.
Now Malik says he will move a fresh application in the case to urge the court to find out the circumstances that kept the then district collector from acting on the notification.
Saving Shimla
A few years ago, one Desraj had approached the Himachal Pradesh High Court with a plea against the pollution being caused in the hills by the stone crushers. Ruling in his favour, the HC had ordered the shutdown of crushers that did not follow pollution control norms.
Now a Public Interest Litigation challenging the garbage disposal in Shimla is pending with the HC. The complainant8217;s contention is that the poor disposal of garbage is soiling the character of the Queen of Hills, and the bio-conversion plant should be shifted to another location.
