Pruning of trees in Delhi’s Vasant Vihar colony: HC pulls up MCD for non-compliance with past orders

The high court had observed on March 1 that a detailed assessment of the “activity done by the RWA [resident welfare association] needs to be carried out”, further pruning in the area concerned has to be “stopped right away” and kept further pruning in the area “in abeyance”.

When the matter was taken up on March 20, the high court observed that “nothing had been done by the corporation in compliance of the previous orders of this court”. Justice Waziri observed that remedial measures for the conservation and preservation of the colony’s green areas, in particular its trees, have to be initiated on an urgent basis and the same is not to anyone’s detriment.

The court directed MCD’s zonal deputy commissioner to file an affidavit in seven days, failing which the deputy commissioner should be present in court on the next date.

Previously, the high court had appointed advocate Aditya N Prasad as amicus curiae to assess the situation at the site and assist the court. The court had said Prasad will be assisted at the site by various officials, including officials from the police, PWD, MCD, DDA etc. It had further directed the MCD and the tree officer to file extensive photographs as well as a report.

The tree officer had been previously directed to file a fresh affidavit stating what was noticed at the site and “further orders, as may be necessary, too shall be issued by the tree officer”, the court had said.

During the hearing on March 20, Prasad had submitted that the inspection report filed by the tree officer was erroneous as it referred to damaged roots of four trees in Block A, and nine trees in Block B of Vasant Vihar Colony “because the trees have already been felled and only their stumps are remaining”. Therefore, the euphemistic reference to them as “damaged” is to ignore the stark reality, Prasad said.

The court looked at the photographs attached to the report and said that it shows the stumps being excavated from the earth and directed the tree officer to look into the matter and initiate appropriate measures within four days.

Senior Advocate Vivek Sibal, appearing for Bagai and other petitioners, submitted that the tree officer had inspected only around 100-150 trees. The high court directed the officer to complete the inspection preferably in the next three days and file a report. “Thereafter, the Delhi Development Authority would start developing its land into a dense green area. The tree officer shall also place on record a videography of the digging up of the land/sites, wherever it is apprehended that trees has been felled illegally,” the high court directed.

Sibal had also argued that certain observations made in the NGT order were causing “prejudice to the fair name of petitioner no.1” (Bagai) as if to show to the public that he had a score to settle with the RWA and sought that the circulation of the specific paragraph in the order in social media be curtailed. The RWA said that they had “no animus” against Bagai. The matter is now listed on March 29.

Incidentally, the RWA has challenged the single judge’s order of March 1 before a division bench of the high court. When the matter was listed before the bench on Friday, Sibal had argued that the amicus curiae had filed a report which showed that “several trees had been completely uprooted” in the colony. The association said that those trees did not fall within the colony and submitted that the NGT had asked Bagai to show what scientific method could have been followed as argued by him to prune the trees and that he had no answer for the same. The division bench had kept this matter on May 11 after noting that the matter before the single judge was coming up on March 29.