JUDGMENT :

(Tarlok Singh Chauhan, J.)

1. The instant petition has been filed for grant of the following substantive relief:-

(i) That the notice issued by the respondent No. 3, dated 18.11.2020 Annexure P-2 may kindly be quashed and set aside.

2. The petitioner admits that he has encroached upon the forest land in Shimla town itself and has been served with the notice of eviction dated 18.11.2020.

3. The sole ground on which the petitioner claims a right to squat over the municipal land is that he has been paying the property tax to the Municipal Corporation, Shimla.

4. We really wonder how the mere fact of paying municipal tax would create any kind of right in favour of the petitioner so as to entitle him to keep occupying the government land.

5. It cannot be denied that post-independence almost all the cities, big or small have seen an unplanned growth and the menace of illegal and unauthorized construction and encroachments have acquired monstrous proportions and everyone has been paying a heavy price for the same. In fact, it is on account of encroachments made on the road, there are frequent traffic congestion affecting the heath of the road-users. The pedestrians and road-users