Madras High Court has directed the Dindigul District Collector to remove encroachment allegedly made by an IAS officer in Kodaikanal Forest Area.
The Division Bench comprising Justices R Banumathi and T S Sivagnanam acting on a petition by social activist A R Gokulakrishnan, directed the Collector to cancel the 'B' memo and also remove the encroachment in the forest land by IAS officer R Ambalavanan.
The District Forest Officer, Kodaikanal Division in his February 28, 2013 letter to the Collector mentioned the case filed by Gokulakrishnan, alleging Ambalavanan had encroached on 0.53 hectre of forest land, marked as forest bungalow. Hence he requested that the 'B' memo issued to above land be cancelled.
The bench recorded this and directed the Collector to take appropriate action.
Originally when the petition came up before the High Court, it ordered the District Judge, Dindigul, to inspect the property and file a report by its June 26 order.
The Principal District Judge in his report said a notice under Section 5 of Tamil Nadu Encroachment Act, 1905 was issued to one encroacher in 1988. His son unauthorisedly handed it to another person, who gave it to yet another man, said to have been in possession of it.
Gokulakrishnan alleged that this person was acting at the behest of Ambalavanan.
However, the Additional Government Pleader submitted that a notice had already been issued to the encroacher under Section 7 of Tamil Nadu Encroachment Act, 1905.
The Bench after recording the submissions, directed the Collector to take appropriate action in furtherance of the notice and adjourned the matter after four weeks.
