Supreme Court Summons Haryana Authority Over Cutting Trees For Access To BJP's Karnal Office; Orders Status Quo

The Supreme Court recently issued notice to the State of Haryana and ordered status quo in regard to the development that has taken place in Sector 9-Karnal, where authorities are allegedly trying to carve out the road from the green belt adjoining the GT Road to give access to the Bharatiya Janata Party to its newly built office in the residential area, by cutting more than 40 trees. A bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan also issued notice to the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran, responsible for the planned development of that area, and has directed its Chief Administrator to remain personally present with the entire record and offer an explanation as to under what circumstances more than 40 trees were cut in the name of development."On the next date of hearing the Chief Administrator of the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran shall remain personally present before this Court with the entire record. He shall explain in what circumstances 40 plus trees were felled in the name of development. We would like to know what has the respondent no.2(Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran) done with the trees which were felled. If any further development is undertaken from now onwards, we shall take a very strict view of the matter."The Court also issued notice to the Haryana Dept of Forest, Karnal Municipal Corporation and the BJP.The Appellant had first approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging that there is no justification on the part of the authorities in allotting the land between two residential houses to a political party. It was argued by the counsel appearing for the authorities that the site in question has been allotted to the BJP after getting the layout plan sanctioned from the competent authorities, including the Department of Environment. The road has been provided keeping in view the pragmatic difficulties of the general public, such as the removal of the congestion of the traffic on the GT Road.The bench comprising Justice Sudhar Singh and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the Appellant's plea, noting that the site in question has been allotted to the BJP after inviting applications from the political parties, and the trees from the green belt have been felled after seeking the requisite permission from the Forest/Environment Department. The Court will hear the matter on November 26.Case Details: COL. DAVINDER SINGH RAJPUT v STATE OF HARYANA & ORS.|SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) Diary No.46157/2025Click Here To Read OrderAppearances: For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Bhupender Pratap Singh, Adv. Dr. Sushil Balwada, AOR Mr. Nandlal Kumar Mishra, Adv

Supreme Court Summons Haryana Authority Over Cutting Trees For Access To BJP's Karnal Office; Orders Status Quo

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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