When DDA cuts down trees in Delhi Ridge, the SC says it’s no longer trustworthy.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) vice chairman Subhashish Panda’s affidavit, which claimed that 642 trees were felled on the Delhi Ridge without his knowledge, was sharply disapproved by the Supreme Court on Thursday, which stated that it “cannot trust the DDA now.”

The 642 trees—468 on forest land and 175 on DDA or non-forest land—were felled in Satbari over ten days beginning on February 16, according to Panda’s affidavit. This occurred well in advance of the Supreme Court’s March 4 rejection of DDA’s request to clear the trees in order to enlarge the road.

The land has to be repaired wherever trees have been taken down. There must be a deadline for completing it. After reading the affidavit, Justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan’s bench declared, “We cannot trust DDA now.”

Following a lawsuit alleging that the DDA had chopped trees on the Delhi Ridge without the top court’s authority, Panda filed the affidavit in response to a contempt notice issued by the court on May 9.

Panda stated in his statement that DDA will fence the entire stretch, transplant trees, and refrain from extending the road in order to return the area to its natural state.

The Attorney General R Venkataramani, who represented Panda, was asked to obtain instructions from the court regarding whether the work of planting and maintaining trees could be delegated to any independent organisation, such as the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), and the court agreed to review the affidavit later in the day.

Panda stated in his statement that he was recovering from surgery at the time the trees were felled.

“I was unaware of the error made by field workers who proceeded with tree-cutting operations based on exemptions and permits received from many agencies. I sincerely apologise for the lack of coordination that occurred during my surgical recovery and medical vacation.

According to the document, tree felling began on February 16, 2024, two days after the forest department gave its clearance in principle for the fall of 422 trees on property that was not forest. DDA was requested to plant 4,220 trees and pay the forest department ₹2.4 crore in compensating afforestation expenses. The trees were chopped down by the contractor hired to expand the road.

Panda stated that he became aware of the situation on March 18 after receiving a contempt notice for tree-cutting from the Delhi High Court. On March 20, Panda issued an order for an investigation and a site inspection, which revealed that 458 trees on forest property and 174 trees on DDA land had been destroyed.

Junior engineer and assistant engineer both received show-cause notices (civil). They responded to the notification on May 15 by saying they “misunderstood” that the advice of the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and the consent from the Delhi Forest Department represented the “final permission to cut trees.”

Panda called this a “mistake,” pointing out that tree-cutting on the Delhi Ridge requires approval from the highest court.

“It was necessary to obtain this court’s final approval before moving forward, and the trees could only have been cut down if the approval had been granted.”

According to the affidavit, on September 18, 2023, the Ridge Management Board (RMB) approved the felling of trees. Subsequently, the central government granted in-principle approval under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, for the non-forest use of 3.6 hectares of forest land.

According to the affidavit, the purpose of the road widening project was to construct a four-lane approach road for the Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFIMS), which was to be located on the current Chattarpur–Satbari route. It was planned to widen the road, which was only 7.5 metres wide already, by an additional 7.5 metres, necessitating the removal of some trees from the ridge region. The document further said that DDA had designated a 55-acre plot of land for development into an urban forest.

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