New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the city's forest department to show where it has planted trees after cutting about 53,000 of them over the past 15 years and how much it has earned by felling them.
A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva gave its direction after it perused the affidavits filed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in which they said they have cut 46,529 and 6934 trees respectively for the period 2000-15 for various projects.
While DMRC in its affidavit has said it has paid over Rs 68 crore to forest department for compensatory plantation of trees, DDA has said that between 2000 and 2014 it has cut 6934 trees and planted 74,951 trees under compensatory tree plantation programme.
"DMRC in its affidavit has said that 46,529 trees have been cut its Phase I, II and III for which necessary permission has been taken from the forest department on condition of compensatory plantation for which approximately Rs 68 crore have been deposited for plantation of over 5.18 lakh trees in the ratio of 1:10," the bench said.
It further asked the forest department to file an affidavit within a week and say how much revenue it has received by cutting the trees in past 10 years and what is the location of trees planted under compensatory plantation in the national capital.
The bench also gave last and final opportunity to Delhi government and other respondents to file affidavits within a week and posted the matter for further hearing on May 27.
DMRC in its affidavit said "for the execution of projects at certain alignments, trees are required to be removed for which a detailed Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study is carried out keeping in mind the flora of the area as well as the fact that minimum inconvenience is caused to the people residing in affected areas."
The bench was hearing a PIL initiated by the court on its own motion, apart from a petition filed by advocate Sudhir Mishra seeking directions to the Centre to take immediate steps to control rising air pollution in Delhi.
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