An official told Forest Minister Rai that the fact-finding panel is “illegal.”

Principal secretary of the Delhi Forest Department AK Singh stated that the cabinet of ministers had not given the fact-finding committee authorization.

In a letter to Gopal Rai, the minister of forests on Monday, Delhi Forest Department principal secretary AK Singh claimed that a committee he formed to investigate tree-cutting at a reserve forest in south Delhi had been established illegally.

The letter was sent out two days after Rai established a fact-finding committee consisting of three ministers to ascertain the circumstances behind the 1,100 trees that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had cut down in the Reserve Forest Area of south Delhi.

According to persons with knowledge of the situation, a copy of the senior bureaucrat’s communiqué was also addressed to the offices of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and lieutenant governor VK Saxena.

According to Singh, the fact-finding group lacked the council of ministers’ approval and power.

“The aforementioned committee is merely a group of ministers that have not been appointed by the cabinet to carry out the activity. Without the proper authorization or approval from the council of ministers, the aforementioned fact-finding commission was established with the signatures of Saurabh Bharadwaj, Minister of Urban Development,” Singh said.

Additionally, he stated that the committee is made up entirely of political executives and emphasized that an impartial group of specialists has already been formed by the Supreme Court, which is handling the case, and has provided a preliminary report.

A government official in Delhi responded to the letter by accusing Singh of “running away from accountability.”

These officers are under pressure not to testify before the committee. The official stated, “Some higher ups do not want the truth to come out.