Chaini Parwani –
Published On: November 12, 2021 at 16:57 IST
The Supreme Court on Thursday noted its suspicion on the view of a Committee that set up when the panel submitted to extend the definition of ‘Forest’ to ‘Planted trees on non-notified land’ will only Demoralize planting of trees along roadsides.
A Bench comprising of Justices L Nageswara Rao, B R Gavai, and B V Nagarathna, while hearing Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) Petition stated the stand taken by the Committee could not be undertaken. “We are not going to accept that all planted trees are not forest. It would lead to chaos. Who will decide whether a tree is planted one or grown naturally?” it further interrogated.
Advocate A D N Rao, representing the Committee, argued that the panel took the decision on the basis of the Apex Court’s earlier Verdict in 1996 that Trees planted in a project area cannot be branded as Forests.
The Committee stated “The Government of India guidelines specifically exclude all plantations raised outside the notified forests/recorded forests from the purview of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. Only lands with naturally grown trees outside the notified/reserved forest are treated as deemed forest.”
The Committee further granted the prayer of the Applicant stating that the mentioned areas are non-forest, subject to the condition that the DMRC will fell the Trees only after acquiring permission under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 from the implicated Authorities and after complying with the conditions connected with such approvals, including compensatory planting of 10 times the number of Trees close to the site from where the Trees being felled.
The Committee submitted a response to an application by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) pleading the Court’s direction for felling of trees for the construction of Phase IV of the Metro Rail project, which would be 20 km long, from the Aerocity to Tughlakabad. Around 10,000 Trees will have to be axed for the project.
The Court hearing also witnessed the Delhi Government and Centre opposing each other sternly on the matter with Delhi’s Counsel challenging that the area was part of the forest and the Showcase Notice is being issued for felling of Trees.
The Solicitor General held Delhi of halting the Metro project liable, which is significant for the people, and further raised an objection to Mehta representing the DMRC, stating that there was a conflict of interest between the Centre and DMRC.
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