SC Expresses Displeasure With DDA For Cutting Trees In Violation Of Court’s Order

The court said that wherever trees have been cut, the land will have to be restored.

Written by Gopal Krishna May 16, 2024

Supreme Court

The court expressed displeasure over the affidavit filed by DDA in case of cutting of trees in violation of orders given by the Supreme Court. After seeing court affidavit, he even said that he can no longer trust DDA. Vice President of DDA Shubhashish Panda has filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying that 642 trees were cut in Delhi Ridge area in Satbari without his knowledge, which is a violation of the Supreme Court order.

A bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan is hearing the case. The court said that wherever trees have been cut, the land will have to be restored. This should be done in a time bound manner. During the case hearing, the court asked Attorney General to appear on behalf of DDA VC. The court said in its order that if the work of tree plantation and maintenance can be entrusted to an independent agency like Neera, then take instructions.

During case hearing, court said that we will not accept these evasive answers. The court said that we will not hesitate to take strict action against Vice President of DDA. DDA Vice Chairman Panda has admitted in affidavit that 642 trees were cut in Maidan Garhi and Satbari Ridge area for widening of Chhatarpur to SAARC University and other roads.

Of these, 668 trees were in forest land while 174 trees were in DDA or non-forest land. Much before this, on March 4, the Supreme Court had rejected DDA’s application for cutting trees. Panda said that he was not aware of what mistake the field staff had committed while cutting. Supreme Court is hearing petition filed by Bindu Kapuria.

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