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The Delhi government has shown lack of sensitivity over protecting the environment, the Supreme Court said while rapping it for granting permission to the Delhi Development Authority to chop 422 trees in the Southern Ridge's reserve forest area for the construction of a road.
A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said it is an admitted position as reflected in the statement made by the tree officer that for felling 422 trees, the officer did not grant any permission.
The apex court was hearing suo motu (on its own) contempt proceedings against the vice chairman of the Delhi Development Authority over alleged cutting of 1,100 trees in the ridge forest for a road widening project.
"The Delhi government must take the blame for granting permission to fell 422 trees, though there was no statutory power vesting in the Delhi government to grant such permission," the bench said in an order dated July 12.
"Thus, apart from the trees in the ridge area, the government facilitated cutting and felling the trees outside the ridge area without permission under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994," it said.
The top court said, like the DDA, the Delhi government has shown a lack of sensitivity over protecting the environment.
The bench said the Delhi government has not even provided the tree officer and the Tree Authority an office or basic infrastructure.
The Delhi government must come before the court and tell "how it will compensate for the damage caused to the environment due to its illegal acts", the bench said.
"The affidavit of the Delhi government also shows that this is not the only instance where the forest department of the Delhi government purported to grant permission for the felling of trees. They had done it earlier also," it said.
The Delhi government's stand is that "the DDA has accepted that they misread the notifications issued by the Delhi government", the bench said.
"That will not absolve the Delhi government of its responsibility of passing orders permitting the felling of trees, though no statutory power is vested in the Delhi government," it said.
The top court said the Delhi government must also come out with an action taken report, if any, against the erring officers who are alleged to have granted permissions for the felling of trees.
"Apart from a statement on oath which we expect the Delhi government to make about compensating the loss caused to the environment, we hope and trust that the Delhi government will immediately stop exercising the non-existent power of granting permissions for the felling of trees," it said.
The bench said, "While we do so, we direct the Delhi government to ascertain how many such permissions have been granted by the Delhi government in the last five years and place all those permissions on record."
During the hearing, the apex court expressed anguish over continuous "cover up" by authorities over the role of Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena in tree felling in the ridge area and directed the DDA to inform it whether the order to cut trees was passed on basis of the LG's oral permission or the DDA independently took the decision.
Senior advocate Aditya Sondhi, appearing for the Delhi government, assured the court that office infrastructure, staff and necessary hardware and software will be made available to the Tree Authority and the tree officer within six weeks.
The bench said, "The Delhi government shall also ensure that the Tree Authority is properly constituted before the next date. Regarding the forest department of the state government, the entire infrastructure must be put in place within two months from today."
"The Delhi government must file an affidavit indicating what measures the forest department is taking to prevent environmental damage, including keeping vigil to stop the illegal felling of trees," it said.
The court had earlier issued a notice of criminal contempt against DDA vice chairman Subhasish Panda for allowing large-scale felling of trees in the Southern Ridge's Satbari area to construct a road from Chhattarpur to the South Asian University.