"Blatant Disregard": Supreme Court Hits Out Former Uttarakhand Minister, Forest Officer For Illegal Construction At Jim Corbett

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (6 March) instructed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to furnish a status report within three months regarding the illegal construction and felling of trees at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.

Expressing strong concern over the issue, the apex court rebuked bureaucrats and politicians for disregarding the public trust doctrine, reported by Indian Express.

Particularly, the court expressed dismay at the audacity of former Uttarakhand Minister Harak Singh Rawat and ex-divisional Forest Officer Kishan Chand for allegedly permitting illegal construction and tree felling.

“They (Rawat and Chand) have in blatant disregard of the law and for commercial purposes indulged in mass felling of trees to construct buildings in the pretext of promotion of tourism,” the bench said.

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This development follows the recent raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at 17 locations in Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Chandigarh in connection with an alleged forest scam case linked to Harak Singh Rawat.

Among the locations searched were Rawat's Defence Colony residence and a medical college in Dehradun.

The ED probe is related to accusations against Rawat concerning the alleged felling of thousands of trees, financial irregularities, and illegal construction in the Pakhro Tiger Reserve range of Corbett National Park in 2019.

Rawat was Cabinet Minister between 2017 and 2022 in the BJP government of the state. However, he was expelled from the party by CM Pushkar Singh Dhami over anti-party activities and subsequently joined Congress.

Additionally, the Supreme Court has imposed a ban on tiger safaris at Uttarakhand's Jim Corbett National Park with restricting such activities to the peripheral and buffer zones of the park.

In light of these developments, the Supreme Court has also directed the CBI to submit a status report within three months.

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