Date & Events

Date Events
CIC Directs the department to make following information:
vide its 1) Details of permissions given for felling and
decision pruning (of) trees, together with the details of
applicants, the number of trees, locations, the
dated status of the application and detailed reasons for
05.08.2011 approval or rejection of the same. This shall be
done for all applications received after 1st
September 2011.
W.P.(C) 812 Disposed the said Petition with the direction that
of 2017 vide the concerned Tree Officers shall be responsible
order for implementation of the same. At this juncture,
19.09.2023 learned Counsel for the GNCTD states that the
Tree Officers of the concerned Divisions would
be responsible for timely updation of the data,
as stated in the Order passed by the CIC and
this Court.
APPLICATION OF MIND BY TREE
OFFICER
Cont.Cas(C) Ex facie, there is something amiss in the permission being
851 of 2021 granted. The order granting permission is non-speaking.
vide Order
dated
07.04.2022,
vide Order The statutory duty cast upon the Tree Officer necessarily
dated requires assessment of the necessity to cut a tree for the
28.04.2022 project for which the permission is sought. A site visit
would be prudent.
In the circumstances, it would be appropriate that the Tree
Officer(s) give due consideration to transplantation of
each tree which is sought to be cut, before granting any
further permission for cutting of trees. This would entail
inspection of the trees which are sought. The reason for
grant or denial of permission would have to be spelt out
in the order of the Tree Officer along with photographs of
each tree.
High Court The Tree Officer has to keep in mind the public interest
of Karnataka and the consequences that are likely to flow on the
vide Order environment or the preservation of the trees in an area
while granting such permission. (IN REFERENCE TO
dated
THE KARNATAKA PRESERVATION OF
22.01.1999
TREES ACT, 1976)
in the matter
of Paul
D'Silva And
Others v.
State of
Karnataka
And Others
(ILR 1999
KAR 4487)
High Court The conjoint reading of the provisions of the The Goa,
of Bombay Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984,
at Goa vide indicates that the Tree Officer has to take into consideration
various aspects of the matter as to whether the trees are
Judgement required to be cut in the first place, numbers and kind of
dated trees to be cut and the justification for cutting the required
08.03.2018 number of trees. He is also required to pass a reasoned
in the matter order.
of
Federation
of Rainbow
Warriors v
The Deputy
Conservator
of Forests
(2018 SCC
OnLine Bom
329)
Deepak The Tree Officer of the concerned zone after scrutinizing
Balkrishna the application and after getting the same duly filled in by
the applicant, within one week shall personally inspect the
Vahikar &
tree(s) in issue. A report of such inspection with material
Anr. v The particulars in writing shall be prepared, which report will
State of include the actual status of the tree(s) in issue and
Maharashtr suggestions as to the proposed action to be taken in that
a & Ors. regard, such as cutting/transplantation.
PIL no. 93 The said report along with appropriate recommendation(s)
of the Tree Officer will be sent to the expert committee,
of 2009 vide
which will personally inspect the site as & when it deems
judgement fit and make its recommendation(s).
dated 6. The Tree Officer shall cause publication of a notice in
20.09.2013 the local news paper as also on the website/internet
inviting objections/suggestions, if any, in regard to the
application(s) so made
The Tree Authority shall regularly maintain its website
for publishing the relevant information relating to the tree
census as also tree cutting and/or transplantation.
 TRAINING OF TREE OFFICERS AND
FOREST STAFF ON DPTA AND ON
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW.
Hon’ble From the pictorial evidence which has been placed on the
Court vide record, the Court notes that quite apart from there being a
Order dated prima facie violation of the instructions issued by the
Deputy Conservator of Forest, no adequate protective
07.07.2022 steps also appears to have been taken in respect of the
in W.P.(C) trees situate in and around the construction site. On more
10217 of fundamental plane, the Court notes that the Tree Officer
2022 has abjectly failed to record any reasons which may
have evidenced an application of mind by him on the
issues which had been flagged by the Deputy
Conservator of Forest in his communication referred to
above.
Hon’ble In case there is an exigency for cutting down trees for large
Court vide public projects or if it is absolutely necessary to cut down
Order dated trees on a private entity’s application, it will require the
Tree Officer to personally inspect the site, assess the
10.05.2023 situation, apply his mind and if required, permit the
in W.P.(C) cutting of a tree but only after having first exhausted all
2317 of possibility of saving the tree and ensuring its
2023 transplantation, along with compensatory afforestation
Hon’ble Therefore, apropos the conduct of quasi-judicial
Court vide proceedings, imparting of refresher courses, to the Tree
Judgement Officers, DCF would be of some assistance. The GNCTD
dated is directed to arrange refresher training courses as
maybe requisite, which would also cover the conduct of
29.05.2023 hearings through hybrid mode, e-filing of petitions, replies,
in W.P.(C) etc., for the benefit of Tree Officers, DCF and other
2317 of Officers of the Department, at the Delhi Judicial
2023 Academy, within four weeks of receipt of this order.
SOP
Hon’ble Mr. Singhvi, the learned counsel for the Tree
Court being Officer/Deputy Commissioner of Forest (DCF) submits that
W.P.(C) the offending vehicle has since been impounded and in
terms of the previous order, the Standard Operating
12271 of Procedure (‘SOP’) is being formulated
2022 Order
dated
24.05.2023
13.07.2023 In view of the above, let the GNCTD look into the matter in
in C.M. the right earnest and give it the highest priority so that
Appl No. the approved SOP may be notified not later than three
weeks from today.
33546 of
2023 in W.P.
(C) 12271 of
2022
vide Order this Hon’ble again directed the Department of
dated Forest & wildlife, GNCTD to take instructions
02.08.2023 regarding the implementation of the SOP, however
the SOP has till date not been approved or
implemented
AVOIDING TREE FELLING AT PLANNING
STAGE –DIRECTIONS OF THIS HON’BLE
COURT AND THE HON’BLE NATIONAL
GREEN TRIBUNAL.
vide its This Court is of the opinion that in such cases where
Order dated cutting of trees on a large scale is involved, there needs to
14.02.2020 be a joint mechanism which ought to be evolved by the
Government, may be by constituting a Joint Committee
in Bindu of all the municipal authorities and some
Kapurea & environmentalists/persons with domain knowledge, so
Anr v. that Courts are not inundated with writ petitions in respect
Government of cutting of trees
of NCT of
Delhi &
Ors., W.P
(C)
10121/2019,
Order dated The Forest Department should prepare a quarterly report
25.05.2015 detailing out the particulars of permission given in the city
in the matter for felling of trees. This report should be placed in public
domain by having it uploaded on its website.
of Bindu The Forest Department should monitor and ensure
Kapurea & compensatory afforestation and in that behalf prepare an
Ors. vs annual report of compliance.
Government
of NCT of
Delhi &
Ors., W.P
(C)
827/2015,