Expressing its unhappiness over the total disregard of the mandate of the Indian Forest Act and the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994, in illegally felling over more than 422 trees in the national capital’s Ridge forest for the widening of a road in Delhi’s Chattarpur area, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that “unless we take a strong view, the message will not go,” while expressing misgivings about an attempt to protect the higher ups while making officers below a scapegoat.

Making it clear that he did not favour sending people to incarceration in contempt cases, Justice Abhay S Oka heading a vacation bench also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan categorically told DDA Vice-Chairman Subhasisj Panda to “come clean” in the matter by stating the role of each person including the higher ups in an affidavit.

Stating that the “trees might have been cut elsewhere also, but this case has come to the notice of the court,” Justice Oka said that what has happened is a “brazen act” demonstrating a “complete lack of the understanding of the importance of the environment.

There has to be a concerted effort by all the authorities to restore the environment, the court said.

The court issued notice to the Delhi government’s Forest and Environment Department and the Tree Authority and posted the matter for hearing on July 11, 2024. It also issued notice to other authorities including MCD and the NDMC on the larger issue involving the protection and plantation of trees.

Referring to senior advocate Maninder Singh telling the court about the efforts made by the DDA officers, Justice Oka said “You all make an honest and sincere effort to tell the truth but that does not reflect in your affidavit.”

As senior advocate Maninder Singh appearing for DDA was evasive in addressing the question put by the court in the last hearing on June 24, 2024, whether Lieutenant Governor visited the site and what instructions were given by him, Justice Oka said that they were “not happy” with the reply and the “manner in which the whole thing has happened, we are entitled to have doubt. From our experience both at the bar and at the bench, we know that this is an excuse.”

“We are not happy with this approach. You are not able to give a record. Simple information is not given. We asked if the information (about Lieutenant Governor’s visit to site) is available,” the bench said deriding the way DDA was trying to evade a direct reply to the question posed in the last hearing.

In the last hearing on June 24, the top court had directed the DDA Vice-Chairman to tell iif the illegal felling of trees in ridge forest was carried out based on the direction issued by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

Asking why the inquiry committee did not look into the Lieutenant Governor’s visit and who directed the cutting of trees, the bench said, it seems that the “objective of the inquiry committee is to protect higherup and put blame on Engineer and Executive Engineers.”

Further stating that the laws say that no tree can be cut without permission and there is a complete embargo on the cutting of trees, the bench asked, “Did DDA inform the concerned authorities about the illegal cutting of trees.”

As court was told that Member, Engineering, DDA, Ashok Kumar Gupta was present during the Lieutenant Governor’s visit, the bench asked him to file an affidavit stating all that happened, including instructions issued, if any, by the Lieutenant Governor. The bench asked Gupta to file an affidavit not as an officer of the DDA but as an officer of the court.

In the course of the hearing, the bench asked what happened to the timber yielded from the cutting of such a large number of trees.

“Who is in the custody of trees. Who has taken away the trees that were cut. Trees are a valuable property. The contractor has to account for those trees”, the bench asked in a poser and said, “We are 100% sure that the timber must have been taken away by the contractor in collusion with the officials.”

Asking “Why dog did not bark” when the timber was disappearing, the bench said “When it is an inside act, no body barks.”