Rajasthan High Court Directs State To Take Action Against Illegal Encroachments On Banks Of Luni River

The Rajasthan High Court has directed the state government to take prompt action to remove illegal encroachments from the banks of Luni river.

One Sumer Lal had filed a PIL alleging that illegal encroachments were made by several persons on the riverbed of River Luni and despite identifying the same, the administration is not taking any action to demolish such illegal encroachment

The court in 2020 had ordered action against the encroachments. However, many persons filed applications claiming that they have title over the alleged encroached land. Observing it was not possible for the high court to factually examine the applications, the court later had granted liberty to the applicants to approach the SDM, Balotra. It had also granted protection against dispossession to the 27 applicants.

A division bench of Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Yogendra Kumar Purohit noted that pursuant to the earlier directions, 41 applications were received by the SDM, Balotra, out of which 19 were allowed and 22 were rejected.

"Now, some applications have been filed on behalf of the applicants, whose applications were rejected by the SDM, Balotra, before this Court claiming that due to the decision taken by SDM, Balotra, their rights over the land will be adversely affected," it added.

The bench said that once the SDM, Balotra has taken a decision regarding the status of the applicants, the decision cannot be looked into by the court "while hearing this writ petition filed in public interest.”

While disposing of the petition, the bench clarified, “the applicants, whose applications were rejected by the SDM, Balotra, can very well challenge the said order by availing appropriate remedy available to them under the law. However, at the same time, the State Government is directed to initiate action to remove the illegal encroachments from the riverbed / land of River Luni expeditiously.”

Case Title: Sumer Lal vs The State of Rajasthan D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 544/2020

For Petitioner(s) : Mr. S.P. Sharma Mr. Vipul Singhvi

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Sunil Beniwal, AAG

For Applicant(s): Mr. Girish Joshi with Mr. M.S. Rajpurohit and Mr. Rishabh Handa, Mr. Abhinav Jain, Mr. Subham Modi, Mr. Alkesh Agarwal Mr. Manish Rajpurohit for Mr. Rakesh Arora

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