New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday said that brazen acts of tree felling in the national capital cannot be brushed aside and asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), whether illegal cutting of trees in Delhi's ridge forest was carried on the direction issued by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena.
A bench comprising justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said that it wants a "clear" statement from DDA whether trees in the ridge area were cut on L-G’s orders without court’s permission. The bench expressed its willingness to issue directions for a massive tree plantation drive in the entire national capital territory and asked the DDA and Attorney General R Venkataramani to assist it in the matter.
The bench said it is keen on a detailed inquiry into the acts of the DDA, which resulted in destruction of several valuable trees and consequentially degradation of the environment. The bench was hearing a suo motu contempt case initiated against DDA vice chairman Subhashish Panda for the felling of trees in violation of court’s orders.
During the hearing, the apex court stressed that it is very concerned that trees were cut despite a clear direction that exercise of such nature cannot be carried out without court’s permission. The bench, after perusing the report of the inquiry committee constituted by the DDA to examine the whole episode, observed that certain email communications referred to a site visit made by the L-G in February 2024.
The bench noted that an officer, executive engineer, had purportedly sent emails to the contractor, but the officer denied the authorship of these emails. The bench noted that the emails contained a specific statement that L-G, who is the DDA chairman, visited the site in February 2024, and directed to clear the trees. Senior advocate Maninder Singh, who was representing the DDA VC, submitted that the L-G's visit was to another site and not the site in question.