Delhi LG Wasn't Told About Need For Court's Permission To Cut Trees : Chief Secretary Tells Supreme Court

Chief Secretary of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Naresh Kumar, informed the Supreme Court that Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena was not made aware of the necessity to obtain the court's permission for felling trees in the southern Ridge.

The Chief Secretary stated this in an affidavit filed in a contempt petition against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) over the illegal felling of trees in the region. During the previous hearings, the bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan had observed that the official correspondences indicated that the trees were cut following the oral instructions given by the LG (who is the Chairman of the DDA) during his site visit on February 3.

The Court in one instance warned that it would issue a contempt notice to the Delhi LG as well and asked the Chief Secretary to explain whether the LG was told about the Court's orders. During the previous hearing on July 12, the bench said that the truth regarding the LG's visit came out through records after "much cover up" by the DDA. It demanded a specific answer on whether the tree cutting was ordered by him.

The Chief Secretary's affidavit, filed on July 30 in pursuance of the Court's directions, stated :

"It is humbly submitted that Hon'ble Lt. Governor, at the time of visit held on 03.02.2024 to the project site, issued directions to all the concerned officers / officials to expedite completion of the project, being a project related to medical facilities for the Paramilitary Forces serving the nation, at a cost of approximately Rs.2200 crore. To the best of the knowledge of the undersigned, none of the officers/officials present at site brought to notice of the Hon'ble LG the orders passed by this Hon'ble Court and/or the requirement of obtaining permission of the Tree Officer. It is submitted that directions by the Higher Authorities during such visits, to expedite completion of the projects, cannot be considered as directions to overlook / bypass the statutory provisions for expediting such works."

Got email from DDA regarding LG's direction to cut trees : Contractor

The contractor, M/s Satya Prakash and Bros Pvt.Ltd., also filed affidavits stating that they received e-mails from DDA Engineer-in-Charge Manoj Kumar Yadav referring to the visit of the LG on February 3 and the direction to clear the trees.

"It is stated that Engineer-in-Charge, Executive Engineer sent an email on 07.02.24 to the Contractor on its official email id with copy to other addressees, referring to visit of Hon'ble LG on 03.02.2024 and directions issued to the Engineering wing DDA. It is stated that in the said email inter alia it was clearly mentioned that "UpcomingBushes/Shrubs/DryTrees/FallenTrees/Veterinary Building structure coming in the ROW of roads, be cleared/removed." The said Executive Engineer SMD- also stated in the said email that he shall be available at site and and if any offrcial of any department tried to stop the work, the same shall be brought to his notice immediately."

"It is stated in the evening of 14.02.2024, the Contractor received two back-to-back emails from the Engineer-in-Charge Sh. Manoj Kumar Yadav , referring to visit of Hon'ble LG of 03.02.2024 and direction to clear the trees coming in the ROW. It is stated that in the second email the Engineer-in- Charge very categorically directed the Contractor to go ahead regarding removal of trees."

Earlier, the Court had noted that the email records suggested that the tree felling was carried out as per the orders of the LG VK Saxena after he visited the site on February 3, 2024. However, the DDA submitted that the LG's visit was to the CAPFIMS. The Court had therefore directed the DDA to "come clean" on this aspect. On June 26, the Court expressed displeasure at the DDA's first affidavit, saying that it was trying to "protect higher-ups". The Court then directed a compliance report to be filed by July 11 disclosing records of what transpired in the visit by the Delhi Governor.

In a related development in the case, another bench led by Justice BR Gavai revealed recently that it had also initiated contempt proceedings against the DDA over the tree felling in the same region. Justice Gavai said that since his bench had issued notice prior to Justice Oka's bench taking up the matter in another petition. Justice Gavai's bench then kept the contempt proceedings initiated by it in abeyance seeking clarifications from the Chief Justice of India.

The Delhi Chief Secretary's affidavit was filed through Advocate-on-Record Rahul Shyam Bhandari.