Read Time: 03 minutes

Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued a notice to the Public Works Department (PWD) and Delhi Police in a plea against the damage caused to trees in the Rohini area during road construction.

Justice Najmi Waziri was hearing a contempt petition filed by the New Delhi Nature Society, seeking responses from the authorities, including the PWD engineer-in-chief, executive engineers, the secretary and deputy commissioner of police, the station house officer, and the tree officer.

The court observed that despite the High Court and National Green Tribunal (NGT’s) directions and duty to care for the existing trees along the street, the respondents proceeded to harm the trees, primarily by damaging/cutting their roots.

The court stated that it was evident from the photographs that a lot of concrete has been poured into the roots.

Accordingly, Court issued notice to the concerned authorities and listed the matter for September 1, 2022.

Notably, the same bench in July had expressed concerns over the felling of trees and the issue of transplantation of trees to certain areas in the national capital, emphasizing the need for the government departments to do their work diligently

Earlier, Justice Waziri pulled up authorities ranging from the Station House Officer (SHO) of the jurisdictional police station to the Deputy Commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Commission (SDMC), to the Executive Engineer, Public Works Department (PWD) over the concretization of trees in South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar.

Case Title: New Delhi Nature Society v. Anant Kumar and Ors.