Forest land: Maharashtra considers review plea against SC verdict
The state government has asked for a legal opinion whether a review petition against the recent Supreme Court order of removing the “private forest” tag attached to huge swathes of land across the state, should be filed.
The ruling has brought relief to at least five lakh residents and builders linked to hundreds of acres in Thane, Mulund, Bhandup, Nahur, Mahul, Borivli, Kandivli, Virar, Badlapur and Ambernath, in Mumbai.The notice had been issued to the owners of 6.4 lakh acres, by the state the government.
The state revenue department needs land that is available to be identified as private forest and it wants to develop a forest on this land, as said by sources. Thus the state is exploring the alternatives of filing a review petition, sources added.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has been requested by the Hillside Residents Welfare Association, for directives are issued to the revenue department in the next fortnight to delete the reference to forests in the land records.
It added, “Issuance of a circular or direction will ensure that residents are not put to further hardship of having to individually take up the matter with the concerned departments for alteration of the revenue and other records, which would be time-consuming and a costly affair for the residents.” Residents plan to ask the government to return the money they have paid as penalty for regularizing their homes, after the deletion is completed. Based on recommendations of the panel set up by the SC prior to the order, they paid around Rs 6 per sq feet as net present value.
Source: The Times of India
Ambernath, Badlapur, Bhandup, Borivli, Hillside Residents' Welfare Association, Kandivli, Maharashtra, Mahul, Mulund, Mumbai, Nahur, Prithviraj Chavan, Private forest, State government, Supreme Court, Thane, Virar
