Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena did not know that he needed the Supreme Court’s permission for tree felling in the southern Ridge. This information was given to the Supreme Court by Naresh Kumar, Chief Secretary of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, in an affidavit.
Filed on July 30 in a contempt petition against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) over the illegal felling of trees in the region, the affidavit stated that the LG, at the time of the visit held on February 3, 2024, to the project site, issued directions to all the concerned officers/officials to expedite the completion of the project, since it was related to medical facilities for the Paramilitary Forces serving the nation, at a cost of approximately Rs 2200 crore.
To the best of the knowledge of the undersigned, none of the officers/officials present at the site brought to the notice of the LG the orders passed by the Apex Court and/or the requirement of obtaining permission from the Tree Officer.
The directions issued by higher authorities during such visits, to expedite completion of the projects, cannot be considered as directions to either overlook or bypass the statutory provisions for expediting such works, it added.
Contractor Satya Prakash and Bros Private Limited also filed affidavits in the matter, stating that they received e-mails from DDA Engineer-in-Charge Manoj Kumar Yadav referring to the visit of the LG on February 3 and the direction to clear the trees.
The Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan had observed during the previous hearings that the official correspondences indicated that the trees were cut following the oral instructions given by the LG, who was also the Chairman of the DDA, during his site visit on February 3.
The top court of the country had earlier warned that it would issue a contempt notice to the Delhi LG. It asked the Chief Secretary to explain whether the LG was told about the Court’s orders.
On July 12, the Bench noted that the truth regarding the LG’s visit came out through records after much ‘cover-up’ by the DDA. It demanded a specific answer on whether the tree cutting was ordered by him.
The Bench had earlier noted that the email records suggested that the tree felling was carried out as per the orders of the LG VK Saxena after he visited the site on February 3, 2024.
However, the DDA submitted that the LG’s visit was to the CAPFIMS. The Court then directed the DDA to “come clean” on this aspect.
On June 26, the Apex Court expressed its displeasure on the DDA’s first affidavit, which, it said, tried to protect the ‘higher-ups’. The Bench directed that a compliance report be filed by July 11 disclosing records of what transpired in the visit by the Delhi Governor.
Another Bench led by Justice BR Gavai recently revealed that it had also initiated contempt proceedings against the DDA over the tree felling in the same region.
Justice Gavai said that since his bench had issued notice prior to Justice Oka’s bench taking up the matter in another petition. Justice Gavai’s bench then kept the contempt proceedings initiated by it in abeyance seeking clarifications from the Chief Justice of India.