SC directs Delhi govt, civic agencies to convene meet to discuss ways to increase city's green cover

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi government and the civic agencies to convene a meeting and discuss comprehensive measures to enhance the city's green cover while observing that people are feeling the heat as tree cover is lost.

A vacation bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said it expects the forest department and tree authority to keep a vigil on the activity of illegal damaging of trees in Delhi.

"Considering the illegal and high-ended acts of the felling of trees, we issue notice to Govt of Delhi, Forest and Environment Department, Tree Authority, MCD and DDA. The Secretary of the Forest Department will convene a meeting of all these officers in presence of the expert committee appointed for discussing the comprehensive measures for enhancing the green cover of national capital Delhi," the bench ruled.

Observing that brazen acts of tree felling in the national capital cannot be brushed aside lightly, the top court on Monday sought a "clear" statement from the vice chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) about whether trees in the Ridge area were cut on the orders of the lieutenant governor without its permission.

The apex court had earlier issued a notice of criminal contempt against DDA vice chairman Subhasish Panda for allowing the large-scale felling of trees in the southern Ridge's Satbari area to build a road from Chhattarpur to South Asian University.

It had expressed displeasure over a "misleading" affidavit filed by the vice chairman and presenting "wrong facts" before the court. It also directed the planting of 100 trees for each tree felled by the DDA.