A complainant in the Delhi Golf Club tree felling case has asked National Green Tribunal (NGT) chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel to abstain from accepting membership of the elite club. The Delhi government's Forest Department has been conducting raids on the premises for over a month, and has recovered close to 3,000 logs buried in pits. The complainants allege that trees were cut without permission to expand the smaller golf course, and the evidence was buried in pits. An FIR has also been registered in the matter against the club. In a letter written to Goel on July 31, S P Singh, one of the two complainants, requested that he abstain from accepting the membership until the case against the club is "decided in accordance with law". "Given that the NGT is the apex body of the nation charged with protection of environment, it may send a wrong signal to the public at large if the chairperson thereof becomes a member of the club, which is engaged in annihilation of the environment and currently a subject of criminal investigations for large-scale violation of relevant laws," the letter states. Goel, who was granted permanent membership of the club four days before he retired as a Supreme Court judge on July 6, had applied for membership in November 2014. He was granted permanent membership on July 2, and minutes of the meeting were made public on July 18. In the interim, Singh and another club member, Gajendra Haldea, filed a complaint against the club for illegal felling of trees inside the premises with the Delhi government's Forest Department on July 10. The department filed a police complaint on July 16 and an FIR was lodged within two days. Since then, Singh has written to Goel thrice, asking him to take cognizance of the complaint and call for a detailed report from all investigating agencies. The first letter was written on July 19, followed by one on July 31 and one on August 7. NGT has not taken cognizance so far. Goel did not respond to calls or to an email asking him if he had accepted membership or if he had received the three complaints against the club. While he was an SC judge, Goel was granted tenure membership, which would have ended with his tenure in SC on July 6. The Delhi Golf Club has an agreement with the government of India, under which 20% of all vacancies for memberships are for officials of the Indian Services. Of this, 10% of all vacancies are for Supreme Court judges. The club, in a written statement, said Goel was a tenure member of the club before he was given permanent membership. A tenure membership lasts till the applicant is serving in their current post. This includes judges, IAS officers as well as corporate members. All members of the club must know how to play golf and have to clear a test to be eligible for membership. "In the specific case of former Supreme Court Judge, A . Goel, his application was approved by the membership committee on June 21, 2018 and followed with ratification by the general committee on July 2, 2018. It is pertinent to note here that Judge Goel was already a tenure member at the time of this application being considered. Judge Goel was the senior-most judge in queue at the time when his application was being reviewed and has appropriately been granted membership in line with the prescribed rules of the club.," the statement said.
