New Delhi:

Days after the Supreme Courtroom requested Delhi and three different states to not give any new mining permissions within the Aravallis with out its nod, the court docket has come down laborious on the Delhi Growth Authority for tree slicing within the Ridge, which is an extension of the vary, and initiated contempt proceedings in opposition to its vice chairman.

On Wednesday, the vice chairman of the Delhi Growth Authority (DDA) admitted to the court docket that 642 timber, together with 458 on forest land, had been felled with out his data within the southern a part of the ridge in South Delhi to widen a street. Listening to the problem on Thursday, the bench of Justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan termed the DDA’s actions not only a “wilful violation of the orders of this court docket and disobedience to the legislation” but additionally “interference within the administration of justice” because the court docket had already turned down its software for slicing the timber.

The 11-km street connects Chhatarpur with South Asian College, each of that are in South Delhi. Pulling up DDA Vice Chairman Subhasish Panda, the bench mentioned the Authority knew that the timber couldn’t be reduce with out the permission of the court docket and had hid the truth that the felling had began in February this 12 months.

“Our view is that rather than each tree that was felled, 100 new timber should be planted by the DDA,” the judges mentioned and ordered the authority’s vice chairman to reveal the names of all accountable officers in order that motion will be taken in opposition to them. 

The chairman of the DDA is the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and the court docket requested him to make sure that all additional actions associated to the street are stopped within the Ridge space.

“DDA chairman will deploy a staff to search out out whether or not the street work has stopped or not,” the bench mentioned.

The court docket directed the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, to go to the stretches of street to establish what number of timber had been reduce and to evaluate the harm within the “grossly unlawful and contemptible act”. It additionally mentioned motion ought to be taken by the Ministry of Surroundings And Forests.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Courtroom had requested Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat to not give any new mining permissions within the Aravallis till additional instructions.

Putting a stability between defending the setting and the livelihood of individuals engaged in mining actions, the court docket had careworn that its order wouldn’t, in any method, be construed as a keep on mining already being carried out within the vary with legitimate permits and licences.