Uttarakhand HC Declines To Interfere With Kempty Falls Parking Lease After Centre Approves Use Of 0.2 Hectares Of Forest Land

The petitioner challenged the proposed leasing of 0.2 hectares of land in Kandi Banglo Ki Patti Chhaijula, Tehsil Dhanaulti, to Paryatan Vikas Evam Yuva Kalyan Samiti for a parking facility near Kempty Fall.

A joint inspection recorded that the land was outside recorded forest land but was “in the nature of Forest,” with trees standing on it.

The State stated that the Union Government had granted approval for the parking project on 29 August 2018 and that the State subsequently sanctioned a lease.

The Union Government’s affidavit stated that it had granted Stage-I and Stage-II approvals under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, for diversion of the land for a non-forest purpose.

The petitioner sought to quash any lease or allocation and to restrain transfer or activities that could result in tree-felling or a change in the land’s nature.

Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 restricts a State Government or other authority from, among other things, permitting forest land to be used for a non-forest purpose without the prior approval of the Central Government.

The Court relied on the existence of the Union Government’s Stage-I and Stage-II approvals for the proposed diversion and treated that prior approval as sufficient to find no basis for interference in the matter.

The Court noted that the Union Government had approved the proposal to divert 0.2 hectares for a parking facility, subject to stipulated conditions, and that the State had thereafter sanctioned the lease.

Because the required Central Government permission had been obtained before the land was allotted to the user agency, the Court concluded that there was “hardly any scope for interference”.

The judgment did not separately assess the petitioner’s concerns about tree-felling or the land’s character.

Any pending applications were also disposed of.