look news india
New Delhi, May 3 (HS). The Delhi High Court has sought detailed information from the Forest Secretary of Delhi regarding permission given to Delhi Metro, National Highway Authority and PWD to cut trees to remove encroachment from the forest area. The bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan has directed to file this information in the court by July 22.
The court directed the Forest Secretary to tell how many trees were given permission to be cut from the forest area to remove encroachment from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024. The court directed the Forest Secretary to give information about protected forests, notified forests, notified open forests and notified biodiversity parks in his report. The court directed the Forest Secretary to also mention in his report the number of saplings planted in place of the trees removed.
Actually, the High Court was hearing the PILs filed regarding the poor condition of air quality in Delhi. Delhi High Court has also taken suo motu cognizance of this matter. The High Court has appointed lawyer Kailash Vasuved as amicus curiae to assist the court on this matter. Kailash Vasudev had told the court that he was not being provided data regarding removal of trees.
Earlier, Kailash Vasudev had told the court how forests have been removed in the city. He told that many areas of Delhi which used to be forests have now been converted into unauthorized colonies. The only way to deal with this is to control these unauthorized colonies. Then the court had said that all this could not have been prepared overnight. The people responsible for this should be aware of this. The court had directed Kailash Vasudev to give his suggestions on the issue of deforestation in Delhi.