Gurgaon: More than a year after Haryana demolished 241 structures spread over 261 acres of protected Aravali land in Faridabad, the state’s latest action taken report (ATR) submitted to Central Empowered Committee (CEC) shows enforcement remains caught between continuing court cases, fresh encroachments, and attempts to secure approvals for existing non-forest use.CEC’s scrutiny follows directions from Supreme Court’s July 2022 ruling, which tasked the committee with examining Haryana’s compliance with its orders, including restoration of forest land. The top court had observed that the “process of implementation has been very slow” and sought a compliance report.
Land covered by the relevant PLPA protections is treated as forest for the purposes of forest conservation law, restricting non-forest use without the required approvals
The court directed Haryana to remove illegal constructions on Aravali land covered by Special sections 4 of Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA). Land covered by the relevant PLPA protections is treated as forest for the purposes of forest conservation law, restricting non-forest use without the required approvals.Haryana’s forest department has itself acknowledged the scale of unauthorised development in the protected Aravali belt covering Ankhir, Anangpur, Lakkarpur and Mewla Maharajpur. Its survey identified 6,793 unauthorised structures at 729 locations spread over 780.2 acres. Yet the major demolition exercise reported by the state covered only 241 structures at 88 locations — the first phase, completed by July 1, 2025, focused on large farmhouses, banquet halls, marriage gardens and other commercial structures to clear sizeable stretches of land.The latest ATR, submitted to the CEC last week, does not report another demolition drive on a comparable scale. Instead, it records continuing legal hurdles alongside isolated enforcement action.The most recent development came on Aug 26, when Punjab and Haryana high court adjourned CWP-5493-2024, M/s Dawertex Pvt Ltd vs State of Haryana and Others, along with connected cases, to Nov 3 on the petitioner’s request. The case is among those the forest department has listed as pending because of interim stay orders. Several other petitions, including a group dating back to 2018, also remain part of the litigation.The legal hurdle predates the 2025 demolition drive. In CWP-8319-2018, Kanwaljeet Singh and Another vs State of Haryana and Others, the high court in July 2024 recorded the state’s submission that the matter was covered by Supreme Court’s 2022 judgment in Narinder Singh vs Divesh Bhutani. The court asked the petitioners to address the issue and continued the interim order. The ATR specifically records seven locations in the large farmhouse and banquet hall category where structures had high court stays, meaning they were not part of the demolition.
Haryana’s forest department has itself acknowledged the scale of unauthorised development in the protected Aravali belt covering Ankhir, Anangpur, Lakkarpur and Mewla Maharajpur
Enforcement, however, has not stopped completely. In July this year, the department detected an unauthorised structure involving non-forest activity in Anangpur. A duty magistrate was appointed and the structure was removed on July 7.At the same time, govt and institutional structures are being dealt with through a separate approval route. HSVP has obtained stage 1 approval for diversion of 67.6 hectares of PLPA-notified land, while the tourism department has received in-principle approval for diversion of 37.6 hectares within Surajkund Tourism Complex.“It seems that the Haryana forest department is unable to remove encroachments from PLPA while encroachers are dreaming for post-facto clearance,” said Chetan Agarwal, forest analyst.Supreme Court’s directions, however, went beyond removal — Haryana was also required to restore the status quo ante, including through reforestation and afforestation.
