‘Illegal and high-ended acts’: SC notice to Delhi govt, forest dept, civic agencies over tree felling
‘Illegal and high-ended acts’: SC notice to Delhi govt, forest dept, civic agencies over tree felling
Considering the "illegal and high-ended acts" of felling of trees in the national capital, the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Delhi government, the forest and environment department, the Tree Authority, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
The top court further directed the Delhi government and the civic agencies to convene a meeting and discuss comprehensive measures to enhance the city's green cover while observing that people are feeling the heat as tree cover is lost.
A vacation bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said it expects the forest department and tree authority to keep a vigil on the activity of illegal damaging of trees in Delhi.
The Supreme Court had on Monday quizzed the DDA over the felling of trees in the national capital’s protected Ridge area and sought to know if the Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G), the Chairman of the Authority, had anything to do with it.
A bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, which perused a report of a committee set up by DDA to enquire into the matter, said the emails purportedly sent by the Executive Engineer to the contractor referred to a “site visit by the L-G on February 3” and that “emails state the L-G, after the visit, directed to clear the trees”.
The apex court had earlier issued a notice of criminal contempt against DDA vice chairman Subhasish Panda for allowing the large-scale felling of trees in the southern Ridge's Satbari area to build a road from Chhattarpur to South Asian University.
It had expressed displeasure over a "misleading" affidavit filed by the vice chairman and presenting "wrong facts" before the court. It also directed the planting of 100 trees for each tree felled by the DDA.
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