SC rejects luxury housing project that was to be built in green belt

Gurugram: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the luxury housing project that was to come up on the 350 acres of Aravallis forest. To be built by one of the prominent real estate companies in the country, the luxury housing project was to come up in the Wazirabad stretch of the Aravaliis. There are reports that the land was provided to the company by the former Chief Minister BS Hooda.

Earlier in September, the Apex Court had ordered that Kant Enclave a colony that was built in the green belt of Aravallis in Faridabad was illegal. It had also ordered that all the residential units that have come up in the area to be cleared and has provided a deadline till December 21, 2018.

Interestingly the Top Court has mentioned in its judgement that all the constructions that have occurred from 1984 to 1992 are not illegal but post 1992 all the constructions have been deemed illegal. Presently, the Gurugram Forest Division is involved in over 30 cases over the Aravallis in the state.

The cases range from encroachments, forest act violations and changing of land use patterns in the area to favour building activities in the green belt area. The legal cases over Aravallis are being fought in the District courts of Gurugram, Punjab and Haryana High Court, National Green Tribunal and also in the Supreme Court.

Based on the documents shared most of the encroachment cases are against private builders who had done development in the green belt of Aravallis. There have also been cases filed by petitioners on the issue of violation of forest acts and felling of the trees in the Aravallis. There are twelve cases that are filed in the National Green Tribunal on Aravallis situated in the Gurugram belt. Most of the cases dealt with in NGT are regarding the violation of environmental norms, encroachments and change of land use pattern by the Government