Court No. - 39
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 18174 of 2019 Petitioner :- Samay Singh And 19 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Akhilesh Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Rajesh Yadav Hon'ble B. Amit Sthalekar,J. Hon'ble Piyush Agrawal,J.
Petitioners are permitted to implead District Level Committee, District - Saharanpur, through its Chairman in the array of respondents as respondent no. 5, today itself.
Heard Shri Akhilesh Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned standing counsel for the State - respondent nos. 1, 2, 3 & 5 and Shri Rajesh Yadav, for respondent no. 4.
The petitioners, who are 20 in number, are seeking a direction to the respondents to approve the proposal/claim of the petitioners in terms of Rule 8 (C) of the Scheduled Tribes & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2007.
The case of the petitioners, as stated in the writ petition, is that they are Traditional Forest Dwellers as defined in section 2(o) of the Scheduled Tribes & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as, 'the Act, 2006') in the area of Gram - Bhagawatpur, Mohand Range, Saharanpur, U.P., Village - Bhagwatpur situated under the territorial boundary of Raja Ji National Park.
It is stated that they are in possession of the land from the time of their forefathers, who were engaged by the colonial rules for Taungiya plantation sometime in the year 1920. It is stated that a list has been prepared by the Forest Right Committee on 30.01.2019, which includes the names of the petitioners and the same has been forwarded to the Sub Divisional Committee, but till date, no decision has been taken. The petitioners desire that action be taken on the said list by the District Level Committee.
No useful purpose will be served by keeping the matter pending. We, therefore, dispose of this writ petition with a direction to the District Level Committee (respondent no. 5) to decide the claim of the petitioners, in accordance with law, within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order in its Office.
It is made clear that the Court has not adjudicated the claim of the petitioners on merit.
Order Date :- 30.5.2019 Amit Mishra