Chandigarh, Feb. 1 -- Taking a serious note of the delay in carrying out the demarcation of Morni Hills area, and thus violating court orders, the Punjab and Haryana high court has put secretary, forest and wildlife department, Haryana, Vasvi Tyagi on notice, asking why contempt of court proceedings should not be carried out against her. "...it appears that the functionaries of the state of Haryana are in no mood to proceed with the demarcation of Morni Hills, and are delaying the process on one pretext or the other, for reasons best known to them," the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel observed while initiating suo motu contempt proceedings on Friday and seeking her response by February 20. The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2017 by Vijay Bansal, a Panchkula resident, who had demanded settlement of the area as prescribed under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887. The area was formerly a part of the Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh and became a part of Haryana in 1966. In December 1987, the government issued a notification of reserved forest area. However, the process of demarcation has not been completed even now, the plea had said. According to the petitioner, most of the area is either abutting or falls under outer Himalaya Shivalik Hills range. The issue pertains to residents of 14 local villages, whose land on 6,000 acres of the forest area has not been properly demarcated. "Nearly 200 farmhouses have come up. Many of them by manipulating revenue records. Unplanned growth of Morni town is taking place. This is also the reason behind rampant illegal mining in areas abutting the Himachal border. It is an ecologically sensitive area. Villagers, and in many cases outsiders, have encroached upon the forest land as the area of villages viz a viz forest area has not been properly demarcated," added Bansal, who heads Shivalik Vikas Manch and has been fighting this case in high court since 2017. As per Bansal, the demarcation process has beenpending since 1987, which has threatened the ecological system of this area fromPanchkula to Kala Amb in Himachal. In June 2025, the high court had given the Haryana government time till December 31 to identify and notify reserved forest areas in Morni Hills. "The Morni Hills are serving as the prime green cover, acting as lungs for the tricity of Chandigarh, Panchkula & Mohali. Indubitably, the authorities are required to take a decision, one way or the other, regarding completion of the process," the bench had said while ordering demarcation in six months and warned of punitive action if the exercise was not completed. The court had said that the demarcation and survey was to be done by the forest settlement officer (FSO) and not by the revenue authorities, as claimed by the state government. The appointment of FSO was made in 2018. The high court expressed its surprise as to how the government, without seeking any clarification or review of the June 2025 order, as per which the FSO, as a single member, was to carry out the exercise, changed it into a three-member body and included Panchkula additional deputy commissioner and Panchkula district revenue officer, by way of a government notification on September 17, 2025. The anomaly had come to light when on January 20, 2026, the secretary, forest and wildlife department, sought extension of time to comply with the June order of demarcation. "It is extremely unfortunate to note that, before issuing the notification dated September 17, 2025, to appoint a three-member body, Haryana did not approach this court for clarification or review of the final order dated June 20, 2025. Further, more than seven months have elapsed since the passing of the said order, and no steps have been initiated with regard to the demarcation/survey of Morni Hills," the court observed....