Supreme Court orders tree census in Delhi; no felling of more than 50 trees without CEC permission

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered authorities in Delhi to undertake a census of the trees and further said that the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) must be consulted by the Tree authority before allowing felling of 50 or more trees [MC Mehta v. Union of India]..A Division Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih directed the Forest Department in Delhi to involve the Forest Research Institute (FRI) for the census.Further, the Court ordered that assistance of three experts - retired IFS officers Ishwar Singh and Sunil Limaye and tree expert Pradeep Singh - be taken in the process. "All of them will act as a team to carry out tree census. The infrastructure shall be provided by Government of India as per requisition made by Tree authority," the Court ordered..The Court was dealing with a plea which, among other prayers, called for seeking the court's permission before trees are felled in areas covered by the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.Earlier, it had directed the tree authority to apprise it about the functioning of its members and the procedure they follow for felling trees..Today, the Court also ordered that whenever tree officers grant permission for felling of 50 or more trees, the tree officer shall immediately forward the entire documents to CEC."On receipt of documents, it will be open for CEC to call upon tree officer to get additional documents EC will consider the application and all other aspect and will decide whether permission deserves to be granted or be granted with some terms and conditions. We make it clear that while granting permission to felling of 50 or more trees, unless the thing is exceptional, the condition should be imposed as to planting of trees else permission for felling should not be proceed," the Court ordered. .CEC shall be empowered to reject the application or partly allow it or modify the reasons of permission by tree officer, the Court added."While granting permission, the tree officer shall incorporate a clause that appropriate order has to be passed by CEC first and then tree officer will supply copy of the order to concerned applicant," the Court further said..Meanwhile, it also issued passed a major direction with regard to Section 9(4) of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994. The provision states that there shall be a deemed permission for tree cutting in case the tree officer does not communicate his decision within 60 days."Our attention is invited to Section 9(4) which introduced a deeming fiction. We direct tree officers to ensure that decision on every application is taken within 60 days as under Section 9(3). We also direct that as soon as application is received under Section 9, the copies of the application should be immediately given to CEC by tree officer. We direct that no one shall act upon deemed permission under section 9(4) without the permission of court," the Bench ordered.Further, the Court directed that tree officers will inform every applicant that even if permission is granted by them, the same cannot be proceeded with unless vetted by CEC. .The Court today also observed that the basic function of tree authority is to preserve and save trees. Therefore, only in case of exceptional situation, permission can be granted for felling of trees."Firstly the tree officer has to apply its mind and go to the site where trees are felled a d adjudge whether it is necessarily required or not. Tree officer cannot mechanically pass compensatory afforestation order, he has to identify which category tree are to be planted for that land. While doing so, the tree officer shall consider whether by pruning or by some other method trees could be saved," it added..[Read Live Coverage]