Already on the go for taking welfare measures before the Assembly elections in the State, the Himachal Pradesh Government has got another chance to allure farming community in the State.
Giving a go ahead to the State Government for making a policy to regularise encroachments of small and marginal farmers, Himachal Pradesh High Court has made it clear that it had not restrained the State Government from framing a policy to regularise encroachments.
Disposing of state’s application for going ahead with policy, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh said “This Court has not passed any direction in this Public Interest litigation whereby and where under the State has been restrained from making any legislation or policy. It is prerogative of the State to make the laws and the policy.”
Giving a nod to the government to move on with the policy, the High Court has made it clear that the consent to go ahead does not assign legal sanctity to the proposed policy. In the order the Bench has said, “the State may proceed with the policy but it should not be construed that we have upheld the legality and validity of the proposed policy. If the policy is made, its validity and legality can be tested at any time, if questioned.”
In the recently concluded Budget Session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, state government had assured of framing a policy for regularising encroachment of small and marginal farmers. The government has already constituted a panel, under chairmanship of Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, to look into the modalities for moving on with the proposal. The panel has been looking into the scope of regularising encroachments of less than 10 bighas. The Government is mulling a scheme to regularise encroachments with conferment of proprietary rights to small and marginal farmers as a one-time measure.
As per the draft reports, the panel has proposed conferment of proprietary rights to a maximum of five bighas of encroached land in rural areas. The scheme would apply only on such encroachers, whose total land holding does not cross a total of 10 bighas after the conferment of proprietary rights on the encroached land. The encroachers would be made to vacate the other encroached land. State has also planned to swap lands under the scheme also.