Tree damage in CR Park: PWD officials held guilty of contempt of court
The government also told the court that the Tree Officer on inspection of the site found about 13 trees had been damaged in an exercise carried out by the SDMC and 10 trees were damaged by the PWD.
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The court had on Feb 25 taken a strong note of the damage done to trees.The Delhi High Court has held the Engineer-in-Chief and an Executive Engineer of Delhi’s Public Works Department guilty of contempt of court in a case pertaining to the chopping of roots of trees in Chittaranjan Park. The officers have been directed to remain present on April 7 for sentencing.
“It was for the PWD to have ensured that such damage was prevented. Not doing so, it has been complicit in the damage to the trees. The PWD itself has relaid the pavements and created manholes of 6×6 radius around 16 trees,” said Justice Najmi Waziri in an order.
Justice Waziri further said the “imperative of protecting trees” can never be overlooked, as the city has witnessed the worst period of air pollution in the past four-five years. “The generation of fresh oxygen by trees and their acting as carbon sumps would always mitigate air pollution,” observed the bench.
It also noted that a stretch of a road is dug up by one agency and no sooner before the work ordinarily is completed by that agency, another digs up the same road. “This cycle continues year-round, be it for the work of laying down internet cables, electricity lines, water pipes, telephone cables, etc,” said the court.
The court on February 25 had taken a strong note of the damage being done to trees by the government agencies while carrying out the works on Bipin Chandra Pal Marg and nearby areas, and issued notices to the CEO of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, Engineer-in-Chief of the PWD, other officials of the forest department and the SHO of Chittaranjan Park police station in the contempt petition filed by New Delhi Nature Society.
Both the Engineer-in-Chief and the Executive Engineer had not responded to the court’s notice by the time the order was passed. “They are held guilty of contempt of court for wilfully disobeying the directions of this court and of the NGT,” said the bench.
Despite a status quo being ordered by the court on February 25 , the court was informed that construction work continued at the site. The work was being carried out on a road maintained by the PWD, and it was on the department to ensure that the work was stopped, advocate Aditya N Prasad, who represents the petitioner, told the court.
The government also told the court that the Tree Officer on inspection of the site found about 13 trees had been damaged in an exercise carried out by the SDMC and 10 trees were damaged by the PWD. The court was further informed that there also was unlawful concretisation of the earth around the trees. A fine of Rs 40,000 and Rs 1 lakh had been imposed on the SDMC and PWD, the forest department told the court.
“Callous and deliberate disregard of the court’s directions and a concerted effort to damage the ecology of the city is clearly evident from the photographs,” it said, while also noting that a boundary wall of a Community Centre is being laid down by damaging 13 fully grown trees.
The court has also directed the Chief Secretary, Delhi to pass an order to make it mandatory for all government agencies to seek permission of the Tree Officer first before the initiation of any civil work, which is likely to be made within a distance of 2 metres from any existing tree.
“As and when a request for police assistance is made by the Tree Officer or a Forest Guard, the SHO concerned shall depute at least two police officers so that there is no threat to the life and limb of the said Tree Officer. The Police Commissioner, Delhi shall issue appropriate directions in this regard,” said the court further.
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