Assam: HC asks families living in forest land to vacate, directs govt to prevent future intrusions
Guwahati (PTI): The Gauhati High Court directed families living in Doyang and Nambor reserve forests in Golaghat district to vacate within seven days, and the state government to set up a proper mechanism to prevent such settlements in the future.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury, on Monday said the families living in the forest area must vacate by Sunday, and if they fail to do so, the state government can evict them.
The court was hearing petitions, filed by 74 people, challenging the notices by the district authority asking them to vacate the land within seven days. They claimed the notices were in contravention of certain provisions of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, and the Assam Land Policy, 2019, as also the Supreme Court's order of December 13, 2024.
The HC had, on August 5, given 10 days to the petitioners to submit documentary evidence of their land rights or vacate the forest area.
The bench on Monday said the court has already given more time to vacate the forest.
It directed the government that in case of an eviction drive in the future, a notice of a "reasonable time of 15 days and a further period of 15 days for exiting the place" should be given.
"A proper check mechanism needs to be put in place, which will prevent any illegal entry into the reserve forests. This could be in the way of checking the entry points, putting barbed wires at porous borders and setting up functional checkpoints," it said.
The court observed that all such measures can be effective only if officials concerned and persons managing the check posts do their job honestly and efficiently.
"If any illegal entry is found, necessary penal action should be initiated against the officials, including those of the forest department," it said.
A review of the situation should also be carried out periodically to further help build a kind of institutional mechanism for preventing such unauthorised entry into reserve forests, it added.
The HC also said that constant surveillance of the reserved area is required to ensure that encroachers do not enter again and spoil the ecological balance.
The state government has carried out nine eviction drives since June, displacing more than 50,000 people.
Most of those displaced by the eviction drives are Bengali-speaking Muslims, who say their ancestors settled in these areas after losing their land in the 'char' or riverine regions to erosion by the Brahmaputra.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
