BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the Bengaluru Urban Tree Authority to furnish the names of its chairman, members and their tenure to initiate suo motu civil contempt proceedings against them for breach of its orders in relation to a tree census. The division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar directed the authority to submit the list within a week “The duty of the Tree Authority (TA) is to carry out the census. Unfortunately, the provision of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act in relation to tree census is not implemented for almost 44 years,” the bench said.
The bench said that even today, the process has not started. The Chief Conservator of Forests, who was present in the court, was not able to say whether the tree census can be started tomorrow. “The BBMP has paid money to the agency for the tree census. But no steps have been taken. This is a flagrant violation of this court’s order dated August 20, 2019,” it said.
The bench directed Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to file an application for the modification of an order passed by the court in relation to cutting of trees. “BMRCL counsel submitted that the Expert Committee had recommended in their favour to cut the trees but he did not submit the recommendations on record. The BBMP has also not placed the said recommendations. Therefore, the BMRCL may file application for modification of the order,” it said, adjourning the hearing to March 4, 2020.