Supreme Court warns of prison for Telangana officials over illegal tree felling in Kancha Gachibowli; seeks restoration plan

A Bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and A.G. Masih heard the suo motu case concerning alleged environmental violations. The Court scheduled the next hearing for May 15, granting the Telangana government four weeks to submit its response to the CEC report. Additionally, it directed the State’s wildlife warden to outline the measures being undertaken to safeguard displaced animals.

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Telangana government over large-scale tree felling in Hyderabad’s Kancha Gachibowli area, warning of stringent action against officials for illegal tree felling. The officials were instructed to submit a concrete restoration plan and also measures being taken for protection of wildlife in the forest area.

A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and A.G. Masih heard the suo motu case registered over the alleged environmental violations. Listing the matter for May 15, the Court granted four weeks to Telangana to respond to the CEC report and directed the State’s wildlife warden to explain steps being taken to protect displaced animals.

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According to posts by Live Law and Bar and Bench on X, Senior Advocate Abishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Telangana, told the Court that all development activities in the area had been halted. However, Justice Gavai questioned whether permissions from the forest authorities had been obtained. When Singhvi claimed most felling had approvals, except for a small number of trees, Senior Advocate Parmeswar countered, stating the government had adopted a self-certification mode and unilaterally exempted certain species.

Justice Gavai expressed concern at videos showing wildlife running to seek shelter, bitten by stray dogs. He reiterated that the court was only concerned with the presence of dozens of bulldozers, erasing of 100 acres of forest. He sought to know the tearing urgency to erase forest during three days of holidays, by deploying bulldozers.

“If you want to construct, you should have taken permissions. In environmental matters, we are not going to allow. Even for an important project, the Union government had to fight in this court,” he asserted.

The apex court stated that it would not accept interpretations of bureaucrats or Ministers on environmental law, invoking its 1996 order restricting tree felling even in private lands.

“We are concerned with the damage done to environment. Any enactment which falls foul of this Court’s 1996 order will not be tolerated,” Justice Gavai said.

Justice Gavai said the Chief Secretary could face severe action if a concrete restoration plan is not submitted. “Otherwise, we don’t know how many of your officers will have to go in a temporary prison. We are here to protect the environment. Under Article 142, we can go out of the way,” he warned.

The Court also took note of the Central Empowered Committee’s (CEC) report alleging that the land had been mortgaged to private parties without proper disclosure in affidavits.