Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Rahul Bharti has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file status report with regard to the investigation conducted into illegal constructions at Patnitop.
The direction has been passed in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a hotelier Harcharan Singh seeking demolition of the illegal/unauthorized buildings raised in green buffer areas of Patnitop in which Division Bench on December 31, 2019 had directed CBI to conduct indepth enquiry within two months.
When the PIL came up for hearing, Advocate Monika Kohli appearing for the CBI submitted that the notification, which was awaited from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Govt of India, has since been received by the CBI and that they would investigate the matter for which a minimum period of approximately two months is required.
It is worthwhile to mention here that on December 31, 2019, Division Bench had directed Director Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct indepth enquiry into encroachment on forest land and other public land; illegal change of use and misuse of the land in violation of the permitted user; raising of illegal constructions; failure of the authorities to take action; fix the responsibility of the persons who were at the helm of affairs, were duty bound to and responsible for their taking action; their failure to proceed in accordance with law on issues regarding several aspects relating to the illegal constructions compounding and misuse thereof and; any other illegality.
