HC directs Assam government to submit affidavit on Deepor Beel limits by revenue department | Guwahati News - Times of India

Source: The Times of India
Author: Mukut Das

Guwahati: Gauhati high court has directed the state government to file an affidavit regarding the demarcation of Deepor Beel by the revenue department by the next date of hearing in July.

The court of Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Suman Shyam was hearing a case on Monday over the alleged illegal earth filling on the land of the beel and de-notification of the wildlife sanctuary by the state cabinet.

On the allegation of earth filling activities in the beel by the petitioner, Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority's standing counsel P Nayak submitted before the court that no earth-filling is going on in the Deepor Beel area. Advocate Nayak has also been directed by the court to file an affidavit in the matter.

The PIL was filed by Pramod Kalita and two others last year raising various issues, including the challenges faced in protection of Deepor Beel.

The petitioner had stated that the environment and forest department in an affidavit filed in January stated that in the cabinet meeting held on December 21, 2023, it was observed that the notification of 2009 declaring Deepor Beel a wildlife sanctuary was never placed before the chief minister for cabinet approval.

Last month, the division bench of Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Suman Shyam, while hearing an interlocutory application in the PIL over the alleged de-notification of Deepor Beel as a wildlife sanctuary, directed the state government not to issue any notification de-notifying the wetland.

The petitioner had also brought allegations of earth filling activities in Deepor Beel and construction, dredging and excavation of the banks of lake.