Overview
- The Division Bench took cognisance of a PIL and issued notices to the CBI, the Union government, the Uttarakhand government, the Survey of India and the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee.
- The court set a six-week deadline for counter affidavits and scheduled the next hearing for February 11, 2026.
- A working-plan review reported 7,375 of 12,321 forest boundary pillars missing, with most losses in the Mussoorie and Raipur ranges.
- The petition alleges a nexus enabling encroachment and an unusual surge in wealth among territorial forest officers, and it seeks a CBI investigation.
- Requested remedies include a Survey of India geo-referenced re-survey, time-bound re-demarcation and digitisation, transfer of disputed lands to forest control, and an ecological restoration plan.