Tuesday, 13 October 2020 | PNS | Nainital
In the public interest litigation filed against encroachment in a reserved forest area allegedly by Chidanand Saraswati, advocate Vikas Singh who is also the counsel for the family of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, appeared for the defendant in the Uttarakhand high court on Monday. Singh sought that the affidavit filed by him be heard but the court set November 2 as the next date for hearing. The court has also directed the state government to inform whether the encroachment has been removed or not.
The petitioner has informed the court that Saraswati had approached the Supreme Court against the high court’s order but the Apex court provided no relief and referred the matter to the high court. The division bench of acting chief justice Ravi Vijaykumar Malimath and justice RC Khulbe heard the matter.
It will be recalled that Haridwar resident Archana Shukla had filed the PIL alleging that Chidanand Saraswati had encroached upon 35 bigha land in reserved forest area of Virpur Khurd near Rishikesh where he had reportedly got 52 rooms, one large hall and a gaushala constructed. The petitioner has further averred that due to the influential connections of the person, the forest department and revenue department had ignored the encroachment. As no action had been taken despite repeatedly informing the authorities concerned, she had to file the PIL in the high court. The petitioner has sought the land be freed of the encroachment and be returned to the government.
