SC to hear plea to restrain Rly, MCD from tree felling in Inderpuri

New Delhi
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Friday an application to restrain the Railways and the Delhi government from cutting trees in Inderpuri, central Delhi for the construction of a foot overbridge.
A bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka agreed to hear the application moved by the Inderpuri Residents Association on an urgent mention made on Thursday by their lawyer Manan Verma. According to the application, the construction of the foot overbridge will entail cutting 15-20 fully grown trees.
The bench, also comprising justice Augustine George Masih, posted the matter to be heard on Friday along with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist and lawyer MC Mehta, where the issue of enhancing Delhi’s green cover is under consideration.
The railways ministry issued a tender for the foot overbridge in 2023, according to which construction at the Inderpuri railway halt will extend the existing foot overbridge to a width of 6.1m to enable the movement of two-wheelers. This, the residents have said, is being done to bypass a judicial order of the Delhi high court, which does not allow the existing dilapidated foot overbridge for use by two-wheelers to cross from Inder Puri to Naraina.
The resident’s application said that in August this year, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) approved the transfer of additional land to Railways without the mandatory permission of the top court. They also alleged that the numbering of trees for purposes of felling has begun, and this required an urgent hearing.
“The inaction of the authorities concerned to protect the existing trees has a direct and proportional effect on the health and well-being of the applicant and the general public including the violation of their right to a clean and healthy environment, implicit in their fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the application said.
“There are about 15-20 fully grown trees in this area and a few of them are recently numbered in order to cut the trees. It has come to the knowledge of the applicant that no permission has been sought to cut the trees. In any event, even if such permission is sought, the same ought not to be granted,” the application said.
The residents pointed out that saving each single tree is significant as the India State of Forest Report 2021 pegs the total forest cover in Delhi at 13.15%, and the tree cover 9.91% — adding up to a total of 23%. This is much lower compared to the National Forest Policy, which prescribes that one-third of the land cover (33%) fall under green cover, they said.
Recently, the top court issued notice to the Delhi government and the Delhi Tree Authority (DTA) under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act to respond to a petition which pointed out that every hour, five trees are felled, and that between 2015 and 2021, the Capital lost over 60,000 trees.
The court had directed DTA to spell out the mechanism for permitting tree felling, and whether any checks and balances exist in the procedure to grant such permission.
This matter is also expected to be heard on Friday.