Supreme Court Directs Project Proponents Who Obtained Tree Felling Permissions To Submit Data On Compensatory Afforestation

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centrally Empowered Committee to call upon various project proponents that have received tree felling permissions from the Court to upload data on compliance with Court conditions regarding compensatory efforts.

The Court stated it will initiate contempt proceedings against those project proponents who fail to upload the data on CMIS within three months of receipt of notice from the CEC.

In its order, the court referred to the CEC's report, which highlighted 15 cases where compliance had not been met.

“We permit the CEC to serve notice to all project proponents who have received tree-felling permission, calling upon them to upload data on the compliance of conditions on CMIS. If we are satisfied that a project proponent failed to upload data within three months of the receipt of notice, contempt action will be initiated,” the bench ordered.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih was considering the issue of enhancing the green cover in Delhi and setting up a mechanism to ensure compliance of Court orders regarding compensatory efforts while granting tree felling permissions.

During the hearing, Justice Oka, remarked, “We hope the Delhi Government is not exercising the powers of the Tree Officer of granting permission for felling trees.” He was referring to the contempt case against the Delhi Development Authority Vice Chairman in which the Court had observed that the Delhi Government usurped Tree Officer's powers in granting permission to fell trees in the Delhi Ridge area.

During the previous hearing on August 20, the court had expressed its intent to issue contempt notice on even slightest non-compliance of conditions imposed by it while permitting felling of large number of trees in Delhi. Justice suggested that compensatory afforestation should be a prerequisite for granting permissions to fell trees. The Court had a sought a specific cases where permissions for felling a large number of trees were granted.

These proceedings are part of the Supreme Court's ongoing efforts to safeguard the environment in Delhi-NCR, stemming from the MC Mehta cases concerning environmental issues. The Court has previously mandated that public authorities seeking permission to cut trees for public projects must minimize tree felling by re-examining project alignments. The Court highlighted that Article 51A of the Constitution underlines the duty of citizens to protect the environment and the right to a healthy environment.

Earlier, the bench criticized the Uttar Pradesh government for its casual approach in seeking permission to fell 3,874 trees for the Agra-Jalesar-Etah road project in the Taj Trapezium Zone, where the CEC recommended the removal of only 2,818 trees. The Court decided it will consider granting permission only after the state government commenced planting 38,740 trees, as suggested by the CEC.

The Supreme Court has also taken a stern stance on unauthorized tree felling in Delhi, particularly in the Ridge Forest area, by initiating a contempt case against the chairman of the Delhi Development Authority.

The Court is scrutinizing the role of the DDA, Delhi Government as well as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena, in ordering tree felling without the necessary court permissions. The Court on July 12 opined that the authorities engaged in a cover-up and directed the relevant authorities to come up with a machinery for surveillance in Delhi to monitor the illegal felling of trees.

The Court also directed the Delhi Government to develop a comprehensive plan for environmental compensation and outline the preventive measures it will take to curb unauthorized tree felling in the future. The Court also mandated that the Delhi Government enhance the infrastructure of the Tree Authority and the Forest Department to better protect the city's green cover. This matter has now been shifted to the bench presided by Chief Justice of India.

On July 19, the Court stressed the need for mechanism to ensure compliance with the orders passed by it regarding the felling of trees.

In June, the Court highlighted that the extreme heatwave conditions that affected the region were caused due to loss in green cover. The Court ordered the DDA and the Delhi Government to implement the recommendations of a three-member expert committee to restore the green cover in Delhi, which includes urgent measures to clear illegally constructed roads and plant new trees.

Case no. – Writ Petition (Civil) No. 4677/1985

Case Title – MC Mehta v. Union of India & Ors.