Jaipur: In yet another instance of an administrative department assuming control over the heritage buildings of the forest department, the district magistrate of Uttarakhand's Almora district has taken over all the forest rest houses – meant exclusively for forest department personnel to discharge their duties – to convert them into relief camps.

In his order dated June 27, district magistrate Nitin Singh Bhadoria sought to acquire all the forest rest houses, going as far as to include even those in the reserved forest areas, and granted control of them to respective sub-divisional magistrates for the establishment of calamity relief camps.

The order neither states the time period for which the forest rest houses would be acquired nor any special circumstances under which the relief camps need to be established.

Bhadoria's order has been challenged by Amit Kholia, an environmental activist based in Haldwani.

In a legal notice to Bhadoria, Kholia flagged that the compliance of the order would result in the aggregation of human population in the sensitive forest areas, thereby affecting the forest and the wildlife of the Almora forest division.

"Most of these forest rest houses/inspection bungalows are situated in the reserved forest areas. They are established at sensitive places and establishment of calamity relief camps there will result in entry of a large number of people inside the reserved forest area which is prohibited under the Indian Forest Act," reads the notice.

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There have been several instances in the past where the forest rest houses have been taken over by the district administration in the name of promoting tourism.

In 2017, the Dehradun district administration had taken over all the forest rest houses during the six months-long char dham yatra to arrange for the stay of VIP pilgrims.

Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh, the Pilibhit district magistrate Akhilesh Kumar Mishra issued a circular stating that forest officials must seek the consent of the city magistrate before making bookings at forest rest houses in the Pilibhit tiger reserve.

The forest department termed Mishra's circular as breach of forest officials' rights.

In view of such misuse of forest rest houses by the administrative department, the Supreme Court had framed guidelines for their control and maintenance.

These guidelines, issued through a Supreme Court order dated July 5, 2018, state that the control of forest rest houses, under all circumstances, would remain with the forest department.

It further adds that the district may be granted priority reservation of rooms in the forest rest houses, under special circumstances, but their control could never be taken over by the district administration or the government.

Kholia, in the notice, claimed that Bhadoria's order is a blatant violation of these Supreme Court guidelines.

He added that the district administration had sufficient resources to establish calamity relief camps in a different place and there was no logical basis behind the establishment of relief camps inside the reserved forest areas.

He also claimed that the order promotes a forest offence by permitting mass illegal entry into protected areas and, therefore, attracts penal action.

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"The order manifestly violates the provision of Indian Forest Act, 1927 that prohibits trespassing in forests,"

Calling for a withdrawal of the order, Kholia in his legal notice said, "Your order acquiring forest rest houses for indefinite period, without specifying any special circumstances, interferes with the conventional use of these rest houses."

"You are requested to immediately withdraw your illegal, unauthorized and contemptuous order," he added.

When The Wire reached out to Bhadoria for a comment, he disconnected the call after listening to the query and didn't pick up the call again.

However, Bhadoria told Times of India that the forest rest houses were being taken to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is in contrast to the way that the rest of the state is dealing with the pandemic. Other than Almora, no district administration in the state has sought to acquire forest rest houses in the fight against COVID-19.

In fact, this is the second time that Bhadoria has issued the acquisition order for taking over forest rest houses in Almora. Bhadoria had issued it last year as well in the absence of a pandemic. His order was countered by the forest department.

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