State 'single litigant', should come with unified stand: Supreme Court

The State is a "single litigant" for the courts and it should come with a unified stand after taking on board all the departments concerned, the Supreme Court has said.

The observation by a bench headed by Justice BR Gavai came while noting that there appeared to be some inter-se disputes between the forest and revenue departments of the Mizoram government in a matter pertaining to a May 1965 notification.

The apex court noted a single judge of the Gauhati High Court's Aizawl bench, in January 2021, held the notification issued in the Assam Gazette dated May 19, 1965, "notifying the order passed by the chief executive officer, Mizo District Council, declaring forests located within half a mile on either side of the river Tuirial and 15 other rivers to be the Council Reserved Forest, is not sustainable in law".

It said the state had preferred an appeal before a division bench of the high court but on November 9, 2022, it sought liberty to withdraw the appeal with the liberty to file