The Uttarakhand High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to stop the construction of the proposed Sainik Dham in Guniyal village of Dehradun district. The court clarified that the land is not forest land and hence there is no ground to halt the construction work.
The public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by petitioner Vikas Singh Negi, who claimed that the state government was going ahead with the project without properly determining the actual status of the land.
The petition also alleged that the site fell within a forest area. Based on this claim, it sought several reliefs, including an immediate stay on construction, transfer of the land to the forest department, a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged illegal change of land use, removal of encroachments, and action against officials responsible for the alleged violations.
On behalf of the Uttarakhand government, reference was made to a joint land survey report prepared by the revenue and forest departments. The report clearly mentioned that the land does not fall under any forest area. It also mentioned that the forest department had raised no objection to allotting the land for the “Sainik Dham” project.
A bench comprising Justices Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Subhash Upadhyay observed that once the competent forest authorities had certified the land as non-forest, the petition had no legal basis. The court further noted that construction has been ongoing since 2021 and is nearly complete, with the inauguration expected soon. Finding no reason to interfere, the court dismissed the plea.
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