‘L-G thinks he is a court’: SC slams Saxena, Delhi govt. on tree-felling in protected area
The Bench pulled up the Delhi government for exercising ‘non-existent powers’ by issuing a notification to let DDA cut the trees. ‘There is complete non-application of mind by L-G,’ it said
The Supreme Court on July 12 found that more than 420 trees were felled in the protected Delhi ridge area after Lieutenant Governor of Delhi V.K. Saxena said that he had given his approval.
A Special Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka said not one among the senior officers from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), or the Delhi Chief Secretary, had deemed it necessary to inform the L-G that cutting any tree would mandatorily require the prior sanction of the Supreme Court or approval from the tree officer under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.
No permission given to DDA by Forest Dept. to cut trees in Ridge area, says Delhi government
The Bench slammed the Delhi government for exercising its “non-existent powers” by issuing a notification on February 14 allowing the DDA to fell the trees.
“There is complete non-application of mind by L-G… I think L-G thinks he is a court. Did any officer inform the L-G that no tree in the ridge area can be cut without the sanction of the Supreme Court? Did you inform the L-G that permission is not given by the Delhi government but the Tree Authority? This is a very sorry state of affairs,” Justice Oka told lawyers representing the DDA and the Delhi government.
Also read | DDA emails show L-G had visited Ridge on Feb. 3 and asked to cut trees immediately: Bharadwaj
The “truth finally came out” when Ashok Kumar Gupta, member (engineering) with the DDA, and an eyewitness filed an affidavit on the court’s orders on what transpired during the L-G’s visit on February 3 to the spot where the trees were cut.
“The L-G had ordered the trees to be cut. That is why they did not go to the tree officer. This is only the tip of the iceberg,” senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the contempt petitioner, submitted.
The court ordered the DDA to file a detailed affidavit clarifying whether it had instructed the contractors to fell the trees on the basis of an oral direction of the L-G on February 3 or whether there was any independent decision by the autonomous body to cut the trees. The contractors too have to file a separate affidavit revealing on whose orders they felled the trees.
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The Bench directed the Delhi government to file an affidavit on what action was taken against its officers responsible for granting the permission. The government has to also suggest compensation for environmental damage caused by its act of exercising non-existent powers.
“Immediately stop exercising this non-existent power and tell us how many such permissions were given in the last five years,” Justice Oka asked the government counsel.
The government has to constitute a fully functional Tree Authority under the 1994 Act before the next date of hearing.
Also read | ‘Zero accountability’: AAP lambasts L-G over SC order on illegal felling of trees in Capital
On June 24, the Bench had directed DDA vice-chairman Subhasish Panda, who is facing contempt for felling the trees, to go through official records about the L-G’s visit and collect details of the officers who were present at the time to help the court know if “the felling of trees was done under the directions issued by the L-G on February 3, 2024.”
“We expect the DDA to come clean on this aspect,” the court had said. However, the vice-chairman returned blank to the court on June 26.
Undeterred and firm to get to the bottom of the issue, the court had turned to Mr. Gupta to file an affidavit as an officer of the court and make a clean breast of what happened during the February 3 visit. Justice Oka termed the cutting of the protected trees a “brazen act which showed a complete lack of understanding of the importance of the environment”.
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