SC to examine felling of trees in southern ridge

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine the reasons why Delhi Development Authority (DDA) decided to cut 1,670 trees in the Delhi ridge area for a road construction project after the petitioner who challenged the illegal action alleged that it was done to benefit some private farmhouses in Satbari near Chhattarpur.

- Abraham Thomas

A bench headed by Justice Surya Kant said that its primary focus is to ensure that the damage done to the ridge is adequately compensated. At the same time, the bench, also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, agreed to go into the allegation made by the petitioner on January 7 and said, "Keep the list of the affluent people having those farmhouses ready with you."

The court was hearing the contempt petition filed by Delhi resident Bindu Kapurea who approached the court in May to point out a lapse on part of DDA to cut the trees without getting the mandatory nod from the top court. Her petition stated that by the time the DDA application seeking permission for felling trees came up for hearing in March, the trees had already been felled and this fact was not made known to the court.

While there was an existing road in that part of the ridge, the DDA application had sought widening of the road, ostensibly to provide access to a multi-speciality hospital for central armed paramilitary forces in Chhattarpur, besides institutions such as SAARC University and other government buildings.