Delhi govt tightens SOP for felling trees: Court panel's nod mandatory to cut down 50 or more

In a major shift, the Delhi Government has introduced anew Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which stipulates that no project involving the removal of 50 or more trees in the Capital can go ahead without approval from the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), a body set up by the Supreme Court in 2002 to oversee environmental matters.

- GNS News Agency

The Department of Forests and Wildlife issued the new SOP through a gazette notification on April 24 this year. Under the new rules, even if a tree officer — an official who grants permission under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1973 — clears a proposal, the permission “shall not be acted upon unless the same is approved by the CEC,” the order states.

Marking a break from the earlier SOP which gave tree officers full authority to allow felling, irrespective of the number of trees, the revised rules have shifted the final decision-making to the CEC for larger projects. This means no physical removal of trees can begin until the CEC has reviewed the file and approved the plan. The SOP states that felling permission “can be granted only by way of an exception and not in a routine manner.” It adds that even the illegal felling of a single full-grown tree “hurts the environment and the society as a whole.” In December last year, the Supreme Court had mandated that tree felling permission for 50 or more trees require CEC clearance.