The Uttarakhand High Court has stepped in to stop the construction and operation of a stone crusher unit in a protected agricultural zone, delivering a significant interim order. On Tuesday, the court imposed a complete ban on the project in Papri village, located in the Ram Nagar area of Nainital district, until further notice.
Court Halts Project in Protected Fruit Belt
The decisive order came from a division bench comprising Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Subhash Upadhyay. The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a local resident, Satnam Singh. The core argument of the petition was that the stone crusher was being illegally set up within a state-declared "fruit belt", where the establishment of heavy industrial units is explicitly prohibited.
The petitioner alleged that the local administration granted a no-objection certificate (NOC) to a private company in clear violation of these regulations. This action, according to the plea, bypassed environmental and zoning laws designed to protect agricultural land.
Allegations of Environmental Damage and Fraud
The PIL brought forth serious allegations of environmental harm and procedural fraud. It claimed that the project proponents had illegally filled a four-metre-wide government irrigation canal and an approximately 14-metre-wide natural seasonal drain at the site.
This act of filling crucial water channels has a dual negative impact: it has disrupted irrigation for local farmers, threatening their livelihoods, and it poses a significant flood risk to Papri village during the monsoon season by obstructing natural drainage.
Furthermore, the petition accused officials from the mining department and the pollution control board of colluding with the company. It alleged they prepared a misleading site inspection report to favour the project. This report is said to have incorrectly stated the distance of the proposed stone crusher from nearby sensitive locations like a government primary school, a temple, and an ashram to show fake compliance with prescribed safety norms.
Court Seeks Responses, Next Hearing in 2026
Taking cognizance of these grave allegations, the High Court has issued formal notices to several authorities and the company involved. The respondents who must now file their replies include the Nainital District Magistrate, the Director of Mining, the District Mining Officer, and the private company behind the stone crusher project.
The court has scheduled the next hearing in this matter for February 26, 2026. Until then, the ban on any construction or operational activity at the stone crusher site in Papri village remains firmly in place. This interim order provides temporary relief to the petitioners and the local community while the legal process unfolds.
