Wednesday, 16 November 2022 | PNS | NAINITAL
Hearing on the petition challenging the summons issued by a lower court to the then Mussoorie divisional forest officer and two other departmental officers, the Uttarakhand High Court single bench of Justice Ravindra Maithani ordered a stay on the summons and directed the State government and former director general of police BS Sidhu to submit their reply in court within four weeks in the matter pertaining to alleged illegal purchase of reserved forest land by Sidhu in 2012 and the felling of 25 Sal trees in 2013 in the Rajpur area of Dehradun.
According to the case details, the then Musoorie DFO Dhiraj Pandey and others had challenged the summons issued to them by a lower court and had sought a stay on further action. The petitioners have contended that the former DGP had registered a case against them on July 9, 2013 as an act of retribution and to exert pressure on them. The case was taken up for hearing in the lower court recently and on October 21 the court had issued summons to them. The petitioners have stated that the former DGP misused his position to purchase 7,450 square metres of reserved forest land on November 20, 2012 and also got trees axed on the said land. The DFO got a case lodged against Sidhu in this matter and in response the former DGP lodged a fabricated case against them, the petitioners claimed. The counsel for the petitioners Kartikeya Hari Gupta stated that the the former DGP had lodged the case in an act of retribution. He further stated that the National Green Tribunal had imposed a penalty on the former DGP for axing of the trees.
