‘Won’t hesitate’ to add Delhi LG as party to contempt proceedings in response to ridge tree-felling
Ridge tree-felling: New Delhi: On Monday, the Supreme Court declared that it “will not hesitate” to include Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena of Delhi as a party in the ongoing contempt case brought against officials of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for cutting down trees in the national capital’s Ridge area against the ruling of the highest court. Following an examination of documents and multiple emails, a vacation bench led by Justice Abhay S. Oka firmly questioned senior counsel Maninder Singh, speaking on behalf of the DDA, over whether the LG—who serves as the DDA Chairman ex-officio—had visited the location and given the go-ahead for the tree-cutting.
Orally, Singh was instructed to connect with LG Saxena directly and get instructions if he had visited the location in February of this year and issued the orders for the tree felling. The Bench also included Justice Ujjal Bhuyan. Since the inquiry report was quiet on the LG’s alleged visit, the top court stated that the LG is subject to judicial scrutiny as the statutory head of the DDA and that it is interested in learning the facts.
In addition, the SC said that the DDA’s decision to allow the contractor to remove the trees without first getting approval from the highest court was “shocking.” In order to grant some interim directives, the supreme court posted the subject for hearing on Wednesday and stated, “When it comes to cutting trees, it must be slow.” The highest court had questioned the DDA Vice Chairperson at the previous hearing on why he shouldn’t face criminal contempt charges for willfully disobeying its orders that forbade the felling of trees.
“We are not willing to accept that the contractor hired to widen the road has chopped down trees on his own initiative. It had stated, “Of course, it must be based on the directives from the DDA officers. Furthermore, the DDA Vice Chairperson misled the LG, according to the Supreme Court, by sending a request to form an expert committee aimed at minimizing the number of trees cut down.
“We hope and trust that the Hon’ble Lt Governor will take this issue very seriously, not only in his capacity as the Lt Governor of Delhi but also in his capacity as the Chairman of the DDA,” said the statement. In addition to the mandatory afforestation mandated by law, the top court held that the DDA was had to plant 100 new trees for each tree that was taken down. It was hearing contempt petitions, which claimed that the DDA had cut down a huge number of trees in the ridge to build an approach road between the SAARC University between Maidan Garhi and Chhattarpur Road. The SC had previously declared in a ruling that any locations with morphological ridges needed to be safeguarded and that no building permits should be granted in those regions.
