YOGESH NAUTIYAL vs UNION OF INDIA
- Court
- Uttarakhand High Court
UKHC010027662019
2026:UHC:10057-DB
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
HON’BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE SRI MANOJ KUMAR TIWARI
AND
HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SUBHASH UPADHYAY
WRIT PETITION (PIL) NO. 17 OF 2019
ND
2 NOVEMBER, 2026
Yogesh Nautiyal …… Petitioner
Versus
Union of India and others …… Respondents
Counsel for the petitioner : Mr. Raghav Singhal, learned counsel
Counsel for the respondents : Mr. Manoj Kumar, learned Standing
Counsel for the Union of India
: Mr. Gajendra Tripathi, learned
Standing Counsel with Mr. M.S.
Bisht, learned Brief Holder for the
State
The Court made the following:
JUDGMENT: (per Sri Manoj Kumar Tiwari, A.C.J.)
1) By means of this writ petition, petitioner has sought
the following relief :
i) To call for the entire record of proposed leasing
out of the land in question in favour of the
respondent No. 6 and to quash/set aside any
lease/allocation of land to respondent No. 6 by
the State authorities and to further restrain the
respondent Nos. 1 to 5 from transferring the land
in favour of the private respondent and from
doing any activity over the land in question
which may result into felling of trees and
changing the nature of the same.
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2) A counter-affidavit is filed by Ms. Kahkashan
Naseem, Divisinal Forest Officer, Mussoorie Forest Division,
Mussoorie on behalf of respondent No. 5. Paragraph Nos.
3, 4 and 5 of the said counter-affidavit are reproduced
below :
3. That before giving parawise reply to the contents of the
PIL writ petition, the deponent would like to submit that
the proposal for grant of lease over the land recorded in
Category 9(3)e in the name of State Government bearing
Khasra No. 492 measuring 0.200 hectare in Village Kandi
Banglo Ki Patti Chhaijula, Tehsil Dhanaulti in favour of Sri
Sunil Nautiyal, Chairman, Paryatan Vikas Evam Yuva
Kalyan Samiti (Regd.), Kempty, Tehri Garwhal a Joint
Inspection was conducted on 28.11.2016 by the officials of
Revenue Department and Forest Department. As per the
report 50 trees (Bush Trees) of Kukat species (non-timber)
were found standing on the land in question. In the said
Inspection it was found that the land in question is outside
the Forest land, but the said land is in the nature of Forest.
Consequently, it was opined that as per the provisions of
Forest Conservation Act, 1980 the proposal should be sent
to the Government of India for transfer of the land in
question. For ready reference, true/correct typed
version/copy of the Inspection Report dated 28.11.2016
are collectively being annexed as Annexure C.A.-1 to this
affidavit.
4. That on the proposal submitted by the Govt. of
Uttarakhand before the Union of India, the Ministry of
Forest and Environment, Govt. of India vide letter No.
8E/U.C.P./09/06/2018/F.C./1081 dated 29.08.2018
accorded sanction for construction of parking over the land
in question and consequent whereof the Forest and
Environment, Section 04, Government of Uttarakhand vide
Order No. 980(1) dated 30.11.2018 sanctioned the lease
for 20 years for construction of Parking in favour of Users
Agency / Chairman, Paryatan Vikas Evam Yuva Kalyan
Samiti (Regd.) Kempty, Tehri Garhwal. True/correct typed
version/copy of the Govt. of India and the Order dated
30.11.2018 are collectively being annexed as Annexure
CA-2 to this affidavit.
5. That it is not out of context to state here that
Kempty Fall is a renowned Tourist Place in Uttarakhand
and large number of Tourists visit the said place,
consequent whereof there is problem of Parking Place for
the vehicle. Considering the volume of vehicles in the said
area the State Government decided to lease out the land in
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question for 30 years in favour of a registered society
namely Paryatan Vikas Evam Yuva Kalyan Samiti. It is
submitted that in pursuance of the provisions of the
Government Order regarding felling of less number of
trees, the inspection of the site in question was conducted
by the officials of Mussoorie Forest Division and it was
found that there are 25 trees of Gautai species having 0-10
dia-centimeter and 03 trees of Sypris species, today 28
trees and no valuation of the said trees was required.
3) Central Government has also filed a separate
short counter-affidavit. Relevant portion of Paragraph 4 of
the said affidavit is extracted below :
“4. In reply to content of para no. 1 of the writ
petition, it is submitted that the most part of this para are
matter of record and does not pertain to the replying
respondents, as far as the answering respondent is
concerned, Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980
imposes Restriction on the de-reservation of forests or use
of forest land for non-forest purpose:-
Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law
for the time being in force in a State, no State Government
or other authority shall make, except with the prior
approval of the Central Government, any order directing –
(i) …
(ii) …
(iii) …
(iv) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be
cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or
portion, for the purpose of using it for reafforestation. The
photostat copy of the aforesaid relevant Section of Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980 is being filed herewith and
marked as Annexure-SCA-1.
However, the proposal no-
FP/UK/OTHERS/20979/2017 namely Construction of
parking at Kempty Fall has been received online to the
Regional Office of the replying respondent on dated
09.01.2018 through State Government of Uttarakhand. By
way of lease seeking diversion of 0.2 hectare of forest land
with felling permission of 22 trees in favour of Paryatan
Vikas Evam Yuva Kalyan Samiti (Regd.) for non-forest
purposes under sub-section (iii) of section 2 of the Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980. Thereafter, the proposal was
examined and requisite information has been sought by the
Regional Office of the replying respondent time to time
from the State Government. The respondent no. 1
accorded Stage-I & Stage-II (final approval) vide letter No.
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08B/U.C.P./09/06/2018/F.C./305, dated 17.05.2018 and
letter No. 08B/U.C.P./09/06/2018/F.C./1081, dated
29.08.2018 respectively, with subject to fulfilling the
conditions as stipulated therein and as per the existing
guideline issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest &
Climate Change, New Delhi as amended from time to time.
Photostat copy of letter No.
08B/U.C.P./09/06/2018/F.C./305, dated 17.05.2018 and
letter No. 08B/U.C.P./09/06/2018/F.C./1081, dated
29.08.2018 is being filed herewith and is marked as
Annexure-SCA-2.
4) Since the permission of the Central Government
was obtained before allotting the land in question to the
user agency for running a vehicle parking, therefore, there
is hardly any scope for interference in the matter.
5) The writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of.
6) Pending application(s), if any, also stand
disposed of.
_________________________
MANOJ KUMAR TIWARI, A.C.J.
_________________
SUBHASH UPADHYAY, J.
ND
Dt: 2 NOVEMBER, 2026
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Digitally signed by HIMANSHU NEGI
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF
UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF
UTTARAKHAND,
2.5.4.20=bb3b60774012c1ef1dae20d13aaf
116e73351fdaf6878326386908a7f90d5757,
postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND,
serialNumber=75BD9D0FB7F4A80990FC51
A722A6BC552D470EB4FD2F88DDF7C18DB
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Date: 2026.11.04 11:38:29 +05'30'
HIMANS
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