Andhra Pradesh HC Directs Chief Secretary To Constitute Committee To Suggest Measures To Reduce Tree Felling For State Funded Projects

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the state's Chief Secretary to constitute a committee to look into the felling of trees in State-funded projects and suggest measures to reduce the felling of trees for execution of Government funded projects.

The order was passed by a division bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Ravi Cheemalapati in a PIL filed by a 20 year old student, Asmad Mohammed Shaik regarding "indiscriminate felling of trees resorted to by the State through its agencies, for development purposes".

The plea stated that with a view to protect the already deteriorating ecology, the respondents should be prohibited from felling trees indiscriminately and should adopt other means including translocation of trees, which is possible either through the use of machines or even otherwise manually.

The petitioner stated that the indiscriminate cutting of trees not only violated the fundamental rights safeguarded under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution and is violative of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, which was formulated by the Central Government in 2008.

The petitioner further contended that as per the NAPCC, the country should be committed to increasing the tree cover from 23% to 33% and thus prayed that measures be taken to relocate/translocate trees, rather than cutting them down.

The Bench, noted that the PIL was filed to protect the already deteriorating ecology and the issues highlighted are quite relevant to the present State of ecology 'which seems to be deteriorating throughout the world.'

The bench emphasised that the State needs to have a policy to translocate trees instead of simply ordering them to be felled wherever a road has to be constructed or wherever a Government building or a Government controlled institution has to be erected. It then said,

“In today's times it cannot be said that the machinery to do the needful is not available, though it may be expensive, yet some sort of policy decision may have to be taken by the Government in this regard. We, therefore, direct the Chief Secretary – respondent No.1 to constitute a Committee to look into the issue and suggest measures which can be adopted which will decrease, if not totally eliminate the felling of the trees for execution of Government funded projects.”

The Chief Secretary was given the freedom to incorporate other members it deemed fit, and who had appropriate knowledge and expertise in the field into the committee and submit a report within 3 months.

The matter was adjourned to March 12, 2025.

Case title: Asmad Mohammed Shaik Sha Vs. The State Of Ap and Others

Counsel for petitioner: Basheer Ahmed

Counsel for respondent: GP for General Administration-

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