Supreme Court questions process to allow tree felling in Delhi

The Supreme Court on Friday asked what checks and balances are in place before permission is given to chop trees in the Capital, as it set out to examine the functioning of the Delhi Tree Authority (DTA) and tree officers.
The court was considering an application filed by Delhi resident Bhavreen Kandhari, who stated that DTA — a statutory body created in July 1995 to preserve the city’s trees — has given permission to fell over 60,000 trees between 2015 and 2021, with no mechanism to ensure their preservation. She further noted that five trees are being cut in Delhi every hour.
A bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka said, “We want to know whether the four tree officers and the tree authorities constituted under the Delhi Tree Preservation Act (DTPA), 1994 have any kind of checks and balances and what procedure they follow in granting permission.”
The court posted the matter for further hearing on November 22 requiring specific responses from the four tree officers and the tree authority under the Act. The court also issued notice to the Delhi forest department.
The application was filed in the MC Mehta case being heard by the Supreme Court, where the court is considering steps to enhance green cover in Delhi. Kandhari in her application pointed out that section 7 of the Act requires DTA to “preserve all trees within its jurisdiction” and undertake critical study of the proposals of various government departments for construction of buildings, roads, factories with a view to protect existing trees.
Kandhari was represented in court by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Manan Verma.
Sankaranarayanan pointed out that since DTA was constituted in 1995, it met only eight times till May 2021. “Is this Delhi Preservation of Trees Act or Delhi Felling of Trees Act,” he wondered.
The senior advocate said that four tree officers constituted under the Act are deputy conservators of forest, additionally assigned the task as tree officers, and the entire scheme of the Act is governed by Delhi’s principal secretary (environment and forests).
The application also made a prayer that no further felling of trees should be allowed in Delhi. To this, the court was not inclined to issue any order. It said, “Prima facie you may be right in making this prayer. But when it involves a small amount of trees. This prayer can be applicable where there is large felling of trees and safeguards have to be there as ultimately the idea is to protect trees.”
The functioning of DTA had come under scrutiny after it came to light that 1,670 trees in Delhi’s southern ridge were chopped down by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) before getting permission from the top court. In the contempt petition filed against DDA, a matter earlier heard by a bench headed by justice Oka, directions were issued as to how DTA failed to prevent the massive felling of trees as the permission granted by it in February this year was only for 470 odd trees.
A report by the Forest Survey of India this week concluded that 1,670 trees were cut contrary to DDA claims that only 642 trees were felled. The contempt petition in this regard was listed before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud on Friday. However, it could not be taken up and was adjourned to a later date.