The High Court has issued a contempt notice to the Haridwar district magistrate and directed him to reply for not observing the past orders of the court.
According to the case details, resident of Dhampur in Haridwar, Rajpal Singh had filed a contempt petition in the high court in which he had stated that the high court had earlier ordered all the district magistrates to ensure removal of encroachments from river banks and shores of lakes within three months.
The petitioner has stated that in Abdipur village of Laksar in Haridwar, elements of the land mafia have facilitated settlements and farming of paddy and sugar cane on about 700 bigha of government land on the banks of Sonali river. The administration had issued notices repeatedly to get the land vacated but due to the involvement of some officials, the authorities have not been able to get the land freed of encroachments so far, the petitioner averred. Hearing on the petition, the single bench of justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari issued a contempt notice to the Haridwar district magistrate and directed him to submit his reply in the court.
