PTI
New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was everyone’s constitutional duty to protect trees and public authorities should be meticulous and not seek more trees to be felled
than necessary.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan made the observation while hearing a plea filed by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) seeking permission to cut over 800 trees in the Taj Trapezium Zone for the development of a six-lane, access-controlled highway between Agra
and Gwalior.
It was yet another instance where the court noticed the public authorities seeking to fell a large number of trees though it was
not required.
“Practically in case of every application made in TTZ and in Delhi, we have noticed this tendency. It is the constitutional duty of all public authorities to save and protect as many trees as possible. Therefore, when applications are made seeking felling of trees, the authorities have to be meticulous and they should not apply for felling more trees than necessary,” it said.
The top court said the NHAI had sought permission for felling 850 trees; however, only 650 were required to be cut for the construction of the highway.
It noted the report filed by the centrally-empowered committee (CEC) and said it had recommended certain conditions including compensatory plantation of 9,000 trees at the
cost of NHAI.
In a large number of cases before compensatory afforestation was done, the court said, the permission to fell trees was granted and the order for compensatory afforestation was not implemented in true letter
and spirit.
The NHAI was directed by the bench to first comply with the condition of compensatory afforestation and asked the CEC to examine the compliance. The committee would submit a compliance report and only then the permission would be granted, it said.
The NHAI plea submitted that the proposed highway would improve connectivity between Gwalior and Agra via Dholpur and Morena. It said the greenfield highway would improve road safety along the existing link between Agra and Gwalior – National Highway-44 and help save travel time, fuel and transportation costs.
