NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed L-G V K Saxena, who also serves as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) chairperson, to file his personal affidavit by October 22 in connection with the unauthorised felling of trees in the Delhi Ridge area without its permission.
A three-judge bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, asked the L-G to submit a detailed reply, including information on any disciplinary proceedings or criminal action taken against those involved in the case.
The apex court sought the affidavit after hearing the suo motu contempt proceedings against the DDA vice chairman over the alleged felling of 1,100 trees in the ridge forest for a road widening project. It also sought clarity on whether the DA chairperson was informed of the top court’s permission for felling trees during his site visit on February 3.
Earlier, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan heard the case. It had also issued earlier a criminal contempt notice against Panda for allegedly allowing large-scale tree felling in the southern Ridge’s Satbari area to construct a road from Chattarpur to the South Asian University.
The SC had earlier also slammed the Delhi govt for granting permission to the DDA to axe 422 trees in the Southern Ridge’s reserve forest area for the construction of a road, after noting that the Delhi government has shown a lack of sensitivity over protecting the environment.
Terming the act of the Delhi government “lack of sensitivity” shown in the matter, the bench said the government has not even provided the tree officer and the Tree Authority an office or basic infrastructure.
The top court had criticised senior state officials for not highlighting the need for its permission to fell trees in the ridge area.