Gauhati High Court Seeking ATR On Alleged Illegal Encroachments in Tipam Hills

The Gauhati High Court in the case XXXX XXXX v. In Re- The State of Assam & 7 Ors observed and has issued a suo motu PIL, wherein the court directed the authorities for submitting a report and action taken with regard to the allegation made of illegal encroachment of historic Tipam hill.
In the present case, the suo motu PIL was being registered by the court in 2018 on the basis of a letter written by Late Nilay Dutta, Senior Advocate highlighting the report of the Assamese newspaper ‘Niyomiya Barta’ which pertains to the illegal mining as well as the incidents of encroachment of the Tipam hill area.
Earlier, the said court seek reports from the concerned authorities on the said allegations. Therefore, the jurisdictional Divisional Forest Officer vide reports dated 17.12.2022 and 20.03.2023, wherein the court stated that the incidents of illegal mining has been stopped due to the intervention of the departmental authorities. The division bench comprising of Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Suman Shyam in the case noted that it is not being clear from the materials on record is as to whether, any action has been taken by the District Administration or the Revenue Authorities pertaining to the allegation of illegal encroachment of Tipam hill.
Accordingly, it has been directed by the court that the revenue authorities of the district for submitting a report before the court on the allegation of encroachment of Tipam
hill within 6 weeks