Bishnu Daulagupu and 7 Ors v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER Date : 29.11.2023

¶1The instant writ petition has been filed by the Petitioners herein challenging the decision for allotting land of Nabdi Daulagupu Village of Dima Hasao District for compensatory afforestation in connection with implementation of 120 MW Lower Kopili Hydro Electric Project at Longku as well as for setting aside and quashing the impugned letter dated 06.02.2021 issued by the Secretary, Revenue, NC Hills requesting the Chief Conservator of Forest, Dima Hasao to shift Nabdi Daulagupu patch of land measuring 86.23 Hectare for compensatory afforestation in connection with implemention of 120 MW Lower Kopili Hydro Electric Project at Longku.

¶2This Court vide an order dated 01.06.2021 issued notice thereby directing that the status quo as regards the Petitioners' village for the purpose of compensatory afforestation in terms with the communication dated 01.06.2019 shall be maintained. When the matter was listed on 30.08.2023 before this Court, this Court directed both the Forest Department as well as the NC Hills Autonomous Council to file their affidavit-in-oppositions by 25.09.2023. It further reveals that pursuant to the orders passed by this Court, the Respondent Page No.# 4/5 No.5 had filed their affidavit-in-opposition on 03.10.2023 wherein there was a request made to the Chief Conservator of Forest, Dima Hasao District requesting to shift the Nabdi Daolagupu patch of land measuring 86.23 Hectare for Compensatory Afforestation in connection with implemention of 120 MW Lower Kopili Hydro Electric Project at Longku to a different location which would be identified shortly in Dima Hasao District due to some unavoidable circumstances. It was also mentioned in the said communication that after identification of the plot, the land shall be allotted to the Forest Department immediately for Compensatory Afforestation. Under such circumstances, when the matter was listed before this Court on 05.10.2023, this Court taking into account that the affidavit filed by the Respondent No.5 was not clear that they would not proceed with the Compensatory Afforestation at Nabdi Daolagupu village measuring 86.23 Hectares of land thereby amending the proposal sent on 01.06.2019 directed the Respondent No.5 to clarify their stand by filing an additional affidavit. Accordingly, on 20.11.2023, an additional affidavit-in-opposition was filed by the Respondent No.5 stating at paragraph No.3 that the land measuring 86.23 Hectares situated at Nabdi Daolagupu village was earlier allotted for Compensatory Afforestation for implementation of 12 MW Lower Kopili Hydro Electric Project. The said proposal was reviewed by the Council and now Nabdi Gurubari (Jiri) would be allotted for Compensatory Afforestation in regard to the aforementioned project.

¶3Mr. C. Sharma, the learned Standing counsel appearing on behalf of the NC Hills submitted that in view of the specific undertaking so given in the additional affidavit to the effect that the Petitioners' village i.e. Nabdi Daolagupu would not now be affected, the writ petition so filed by the Petitioners have become infructuous. Page No.# 5/5

¶4This Court having perused the materials on record and also considering the submission made by Mr. C. Sharma, the learned Standing counsel finds that now Nabdi Daolagupu which is the village of the Petitioners would not be affected as the proposal which was given on 01.06.2019 insofar as the Nabdi Daolagupu village have been modified and some other village have been allotted for Compensatory Afforestation.

¶5Accordingly, the issues raised in the instant writ petition in respect to Nabdi Daolagupu village no longer survives for which the instant writ petition stands closed as it has become infructuous.

¶6The interim order therefore no longer survives in view of the above observations.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010086592021 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/2978/2021o BISHNUoDAULAGUPUoANDo7oORS.o S/OoLATEoRINGBANGoDAULAGUPUo RESIDENToOFoNOBDIoDAULAGUPU,oDIMAoHASAO.oASSAM,o788832 2:oTANGMONoWAIDING oS/OoMOLENDRAoWAIDINGo RESIDENToOFoNOBDIoDAULAGUPU oDIMAoHASAO.oASSAM o788832 3:oCINTHAoJOHORI oS/OoDIBENDRAoJOHORIo RESIDENToOFoNOBDIoDAULAGUPU oDIMAoHASAO.oASSAM o788832 4:oBOTHAMoHOJAI oS/OoDOUBEGAoHOJAI o RESIDENToOFoNOBDIoDAULAGUPU oDIMAoHASAO.oASSAM o788832 5:oBOLENDRAoDAULAGUPU oS/OoTAMSINGoDAULAGUPUo RESIDENToOFoNOBDIoDAULAGUPU oDIMAoHASAO.oASSAM o788832 6:oRINGUONoWAIDING oS/OoMOLENDRAoWAIDINGo RESIDENToOFoNOBDIoDAULAGUPU oDIMAoHASAO.oASSAM o788832 PageoNo.#o2/5 7:oRAMENDRAoPHONGLO oS/OoRANGKONoPHONGLOo RESIDENToOFoNOBDIoDAULAGUPU oDIMAoHASAO.oASSAM o78883o VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORS.o REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,o ENVIRONMENToANDoFORESToDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATIo06 2:THEoPRINCIPALoCHIEFoCONSERVATORoOFoFORESToANDoHEADoOFo FORESToFORCE oENVIRONMENToANDoFORESToDEPARTMENT oARNYAoBHAWAN oPANJABARI oGUWAHATIo781037 3:NORTHoCACHARoHILLSoAUTONOMOUSoCOUNCIL oHAFLONG oASSAM oREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARYo(N)oHAFLONG oASSAM o788819 4:THEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY oNORTHoCACHARoHILLSoAUTONOMOUSoCOUNCIL oHAFLONG oASSAM o788819 5:THEoSECRETARY oREVENUE oNORTHoCACHARoHILLSoAUTONOMOUSoCOUNCIL oHAFLONG oASSAM o788819 6:THEoCHIEFoCONSERVATORoOFoFORESTS oDIMAoHASAO oHAFLONG oASSAM o788819 Page No.# 3/5 7:THE DIVISIONAL FOREST OFFICER DIMA HASAO FOREST DIVISION (WEST) HAFLONG ASSAM 78881 For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. N. J. Khataniar, Advocate For the Respondent(s) : Mr. C. Sharma, Standing counsel BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH