The Supreme Court Thursday slammed the Telangana government for deforestation in the Kancha Gachibowli area in Hyderabad, saying it appeared to be “pre-planned” and that the state should decide whether it wants to restore the greenery or have its officers sent to jail.
The Supreme Court was hearing a suo motu case initiated after the Telangana government began large-scale felling of trees at a 400-acre parcel of land in Kancha Gachibowli village near the University of (UoH) to build IT parks. On March 30, the state government sent at least 50 earthmovers to the UoH campus to clear the forested land for auction.
“We are putting you on guard, you are trying to defend such a thing- with all those officers involved, you will be in huge trouble… taking advantage of a long weekend, you do all these things… have you seen those photographs? Dozen bulldozers were arranged… prima facie, all this seems is pre-planned,” Chief Justice B R Gavai presiding over a two-judge bench said.
On being told that the state, in its counter affidavit, had not proposed any plan to restore the area but had instead defended itself, the CJI Thursday said, “If you want the chief secretary and half a dozen officers to shift to a temporary prison, we can do that… We are always advocates of sustainable development, the question here is felling of 1,000 trees, taking wrong advantage of the long vacation (used for deforestation).”
On April 3, the Supreme Court directed the Telangana government to stop its “alarming deforestation activities” in the . The apex court in earlier hearings had warned state officials of contempt of court proceedings. It had also asked the Telangana wildlife warden to take immediate steps to protect wildlife affected by the deforestation and sought a reply from the state to the spot inspection report by the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC).
“Everything has stopped, nothing is happening there”, he said.
Senior advocate K Parameshwar, who is the amicus curiae in the matter, drew the court’s attention to the CEC’s ground report and said that according to it, 60 per cent of the affected area falls within the moderately dense and heavily dense forest categories.
The court then recalled how the authorities had gone ahead with the drive “taking advantage of the long weekend”, apparently indicating that this was deliberately done.
Signhvi said the approval did not come over the weekend but took one year through the institutional process.
This prompted the CJI to ask, “if you are bona fide, then why did you not start it on Monday? Why did you start at the beginning of the long weekend?”
Justice Gavai asked, “Did you have an environmental clearance?” He said if the state so wishes, “we will serve for contempt. Better take a decision to restore the forest”, or the secretary will be in trouble.
The matter will be heard next on July 23.
The Supreme Court got involved in the issue after the government’s decision to auction off 400 acres of forested land triggered massive student protests.
