LG files affidavit; says didn’t know SC nod was needed to cut Delhi Ridge trees

Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena filed an affidavit late on Tuesday maintaining he was unaware that the Supreme Court’s permission was necessary to fell trees in Delhi’s Southern Ridge. He said he came to know in June about the cutting of 642 trees in February without the court’s nod when it heard a contempt petition against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and directed its vice chairman Subhasish Panda to apprise the LG about it in his capacity as the chairman of the Capital’s land-owning agency.

The court on October 16 set an October 22 deadline for Saxena to act against DDA officials for illegally felling over 1,100 trees. It sought answers to key questions related to why the trees were felled without mandatory clearance from the court while considering a contempt petition against Panda.

A Chief Justice of India (CJI)-DY Chandrachud-led bench asked Saxena to also detail remedial steps after being informed about the developments in the matter.

Saxena called the tree felling an unfortunate event and said there was no act of omission or commission on the part of Panda. He requested Panda be discharged from the contempt proceedings. Saxena said departmental as well as criminal action has been initiated against an executive and two assistant engineers for directing a contractor to fell trees “on their own accord”.

The court directed Saxena to file the affidavit when it heard one Bindu Kapurea’s contempt petition over the felling of trees for the road construction for better access to a multi-specialty hospital for paramilitary forces, SAARC University and residential projects for Delhi Police, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency and Central Industrial Security Force.

The court asked Saxena specific questions about his visit to the felling site on February 3, his knowledge about the cutting of trees, and DDA’s subsequent application seeking the court’s permission. Saxena cited DDA records and said 642 trees were felled and not 1,100 as per Kapurea. He added that 174 of the trees were in non-forest area and 468 on forest land.

Saxena said he visited the felling site to take stock of the work progress at the hospital. He added he stopped at the road construction site and gave orders to expedite it.

Saxena maintained he believed that the only permission for tree felling was awaited under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act for which an application was pending with the forest department.

“No one present at the site on the date of visit brought to the notice...the legal requirements of obtaining permission from this court for felling of trees,” said the affidavit, a copy of which HT has seen. “The direction [to expedite work] by no stretch of imagination was to bypass the mandate of law.”

Saxena said he came to know about the need for the permission on March 21 after the court directed DDA to constitute a committee of experts. He added even until then he was unaware that the trees had been cut.

Saxena said the commencement of tree cutting on February 16 was brought to his notice on June 10 when he received Panda’s letter. Panda wrote the letter following the court asking him to inform Saxena about tree felling.

The court initiated contempt proceedings against Panda in May. The court directed Panda to apprise Saxena about the DDA officials’ contempt.

Panda earlier informed the court that he was on medical leave when DDA filed an application without disclosing trees had already been chopped. The DDA said Manoj Kumar Yadav, the executive engineer, wrote to the contractor for felling trees. It blamed two assistant engineers Pawan Kumar and Ayush Saraswat for acts of omission. The court said the three were being made scapegoats as permission for felling these trees could not have come without the knowledge and approval from the top.