Delhi LG not told that SC assent needed for felling trees: chief secy

Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar has told the Supreme Court that lieutenant governor VK Saxena was not “told” about the need to obtain the permission of the top court for the felling of trees in the southern Ridge during his visit to the site on February 2. Kumar submitted a fresh affidavit before the court, which was hearing a contempt petition against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), headed by Saxena, for the illegal felling of trees in Satbari.
Kumar’s response came after the court’s July 12 order directing him to detail what transpired during the LG’s visit to the site. The court, in its last order, said that it was “not interested” in examining how the LG expedited the project to proceed in the absence of the court’s permission but wished to know if the same was brought to his knowledge by any officers accompanying him on the occasion.
Kumar said that “to the best of his knowledge, none of the officers present at the site brought to the notice of the LG the orders passed by this court and/or the requirement of obtaining permission of the Tree Officer (under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act (DPTA), 1994).” The affidavit was filed on July 30.
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Earlier in July, the top court lamented that a relentless “cover-up” and “blame game” was going on over the illegal removal of trees.
The contempt plea filed by a Delhi resident, Bindu Kapurea, alleged that nearly 1,100 trees were felled in the Ridge without permission from the Supreme Court, as required under directions in the MC Mehta case of May 1996, that protects the Ridge against encroachments. The massive felling of trees was done for the construction of a 10km road from Chattarpur to SAARC University and other establishments in Maidan Garhi and Satbari areas.
The chief secretary told the court that the LG issued directions to all officers to expedite the completion of the project. However, he said, “directions by higher authorities during such visits to expedite completion of projects cannot be considered as direction to overlook/bypass the statutory provisions for expediting such works.”
Affidavits were also filed by the additional principal chief conservator of forests, the Delhi government, and an engineer-member of DDA, who were also present with the Saxena during his visit. Giving their versions of the visit, additional PCCF Suneesh Buxy said that the LG was told about the mandatory permissions required by the forest department under the DPTA and Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, that were pending as of that date. “The forest department was advised (by LG) to expedite the process in this regard,” the affidavit said.
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The DDA affidavit confirmed that no official present at the spot briefed Saxena about the requirement to take the top court’s nod. The engineer member Ashok Kumar Gupta told the court that LG informed him (Gupta) that the forest department had already taken approval from him for felling the trees under the DPTA and “directed the officers of the department to convey the approval to DDA at the earliest.”
The tree felling took place between February 16 to 26. The court had directed the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to ascertain the number of trees felled by employing advanced technology. The DDA affidavit said that the trees were felled on a “mistaken notion” as the permission under DPTA and an order of Tree Authority passed on February 15 was already in place. However, the top court in March had refused to allow DDA’s application, by when the trees had already been cut.