Ismail Ali and 16 Ors v. The State of Assam and 3 Ors

ORDER Date : 20.06.2023 Heard Mr. S. Dey, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. K.P. Pathak, learned standing counsel for the Forest Department.

¶2At the outset, the learned standing counsel for the Forest Department has submitted that in view of the nature of dispute raised by the petitioners as well as considering the documents filed in support of the writ Page No.# 7/8 petition, it is suggested that the petitioners be relegated to approach the Divisional Forest Officer, Longai Forest Division, Karimganj and submit a representation with all supporting documents to justify their respective claims to continue to dwell in the forest area as forest dwellers.

¶3On such submission being made, the learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that if so directed by this Court, the petitioners would approach the Divisional Forest Officer, Longai Forest Division, Karimganj so as to enable the said authority to examine the claim of the petitioners to continue residing on N.S. Solamona Forest Village, Old Solamona Forest Village, and Shambunagar Forest Village under Longai Reserve Forest. However, it is submitted that as the petitioners apprehended their eviction from the households, the petitioners be protected for some time till they approached the jurisdictional Divisional Forest Officer.

¶4Considered the submissions made by both the sides.

¶5Hence, without observing anything on merit of the writ petition, the Court is inclined to close this writ petition with liberty to the petitioners to submit a representation before the Divisional Forest Officer, Longai Forest Division, Karimganj to justify their continued residence in the three forest villages referred hereinabove and file all relevant documents before the said authority on which they intend to rely upon.

¶6The petitioners shall approach the said authority within a period of 2

(two) weeks from today and on receipt of such representation along with a certified copy of this order, the Divisional Forest Officer, Longai Forest Division, Page No.# 8/8 Karimganj (respondent no.3) shall provide an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners and decide the said representation within a period of 6 (six) weeks from the date of receipt of such representation.

¶7Taking note of the projection made in this writ petition that the petitioners are residing within the forest area for more than 75 years of three generations as provided under section 2(o) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as well as also the decision of the Govt. of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs for conversion of forest villages, old habitations, unserveyed villaged etc. into revenue villages under section 3(1)(h) of the said Act, the Court is inclined to provide that till the representation of the petitioners are heard and disposed of, the Divisional Forest Officer, Longai Forest Division, Karimganj shall not evict the petitioners without leave of the Court.

¶8On terms as indicated above, this writ petition stands disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/8 GAHC010099252023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/2540/2023o ISMAILoALIoANDo16oORS.o S/O-oLATEoAYUBoALI,o R/O-oVILLAGEoN.SoSOLAMONAoFORESToVILLAGE,o P.O-oKOTAMONI,o P.S-oBAZARICHERRA,o DIST-oKARIMGANJ,oASSAM 2:oAJMAToALI oS/O-oISMAILoALI o o o o 3:oBILATUNoNESSA oW/O-oKHECHAMAToALI o o o o PageoNo.#o2/8 4:oHASONoALI oS/O-oLATEoAYUBoALI o o o o 5:oNAJIMoUDDIN oS/O-oLATEoTOJOYoMIYAo o o o o 6:oSHYAMSoUDDIN oS/O-oLATEoMAHMODoALI o o o o 7:oNACHIRoUDDIN oS/O-oLATEoINTAIoMIAo o o PageoNo.#o3/8 o 8:oFURKANoALI oS/O-oPETUoMIA o o o o 9:oROSMANoALI oS/O-oLATEoINCHANoALI o o o o 10:oRAMIJoUDDIN oS/O-oLATEoMUNSIFARoJANoALI o o o o 11:oAJIMoUDDIN oS/O-oNACHIRoUDDINo o PageoNo.#o4/8 o o o 12:oARKAMoALI oS/O-oLATEoACHABoALI o o o o 13:oSIDDIQUEoAHMED oS/O-oARKAMoALI o o o o 14:oASARoALI oS/O-oLATEoASHIDoALI o o o o PageoNo.#o5/8 15:oALTABoUDDIN oS/O-oLATEoNAJIBoALI o o o o 16:oABDULoKHALIQUE oS/O-oFAYAJoALI o R/O-oVILLAGEoN.SoSHAMBUNAGARoFORESToVILLAGE o o o 17:oRAFIKoALI oS/O-oINTAZoALI o R/O-oVILLAGEoN.SoSHAMBUNAGARoFORESToVILLAGE o o o oASSAo VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo3oORS.o REP.oBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOF ASSAM,oENVIRONMENToANDoFORESToDEPARTMENTo oA-BLOCK,o3RDoFLOOR,oJANATAoBHAWAN,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-o781006,o ASSAM. Page No.# 6/8 2:THE PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS AND HEAD OF FOREST FORCE ASSAM ARANYA BHAWAN ASSAM PANJABARI GUWAHATI- 781037. 3:THE DIVISIONAL FOREST OFFICER LONGAI FOREST DIVISION KARIMGANJ DIVISION KARNAMADHU PART -II KARIMGANJ ASSAM 4:THE FOREST BEAT OFFICER LONGAI BEAT KARIMGANJ ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR S BORTHAKUR Advocate for the Respondent : SC, FOREST BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA