The petitioner, Kisan Kadam, had approached the Lokayukta in 2017 as they had not been allotted alternate land. Concluding that the forest department had taken appropriate measures to allot land within the proposed time, the Lokayukta closed the complaint.
After waiting for three years, the petitioners sent a legal notice to the State authorities. In response, the Forest Department asserted there was compliance with the order of the Lokayukta. The response also contained a warning to the petitioners for raising grievance against their department.
This did not bode well with the Bench of Justices PB Varale and SD Kulkarni which made stern observations against the State department officials.
“We see no justifiable reason for such action to a citizen by a Department of the State Government. The Department of the State Government could have informed the citizen or the Petitioners as to his demands are satisfied but then a warning to a citizen of some action for raising grievance is not at all expected from the Department of the State Government,” the Court stated.
The Court also did not hold back from commenting on the tone of the communication.
“We are surprised to see the tenor of the communication. The communication is of the year 2021 and the Department of Forests, Deputy Conservator of Forests was bold enough to firstly submit that there was no delay and secondly, if there was some delay, the delay is not resulting either in monetary loss or any mental or physical stress to the petitioners,” the Court said.
Source: Barandbench
