Delhi High Court allows transplantation of 26 trees for Supreme Court expansion project

The Delhi High Court recently allowed an application seeking permission for the transplantation of 26 trees in the premises of the Supreme Court of India for an expansion of the top court's premises [Bhavreen Kandhari Vs. Shri CD Singh And Ors]..Justice Jasmeet Singh observed that the application moved by Central Public Works Department (CPWD)'s Supreme Court Project Division -1 to transplant these trees for Supreme Court's expansion needed to be allowed.“Given that the proposed project pertains to the expansion of the Supreme Court building to accommodate additional courtrooms, including a dedicated Constitutional Court, as well as chambers for judges and essential facilities for lawyers and litigants, the present application needs to be allowed,” the High Court stated. .The trees were to be removed in relation to the execution of the project called ‘Expansion of Supreme Court Building for creating Additional Court Rooms including Constitutional Court, Chambers for Judges and facilities for Lawyers & Litigants'.Since the trees fell within the building line/excavation line, they need to be transplanted, as per the plea moved before the High Court. The plea added that 260 trees would be planted in the top court's vicinity to compensate for removing the 26 trees. Advocate Sudhir Mishra appearing for CPWD informed the Court that the compensatory plantation at Sunder Nursery has been completed. .The High Court allowed the proposed transplantation on March 26 on the following conditions:- A site-specific transplantation report and an affidavit by a responsible officer have to be filed, indicating the status of the 26 transplanted trees and compensatory 260 trees planted at Sundar Nursery;- Photographs have to be submitted after the transplantation for the Amici Curiae, Senior Advocates Gautam Narayan and Ankit Jain, to see the upkeep and maintenance of the transplanted trees;- Necessary permissions must be secured from the concerned municipal authorities to see if more trees can be planted on the road leading to the Supreme Court; and - A yearly affidavit should be filed indicating the survival rate and the health of the transplanted trees as well as the compensatory plantation done..The Court also took note of concerns that in the past, when tree transplantation was done, heavy pruning reduced these transplanted trees to mere logs that were incapable of being rejuvenated. To address this issue, the Court directed the Tree Officer of the Forest Department to depute a responsible officer at the time of pruning of the trees to oversee this process. The Deputy Conservator of Forests shall also file an affidavit in compliance on the same, the Court added.The Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government was directed to file an affidavit as well..The CPWD had earlier sought permission from the Forest department to transplant the trees. The Forest Department asked the CPWD to first get approval from the High Court as it has been hearing a matter related to the green cover in the national capital.Accordingly, CPWD moved an application as an intervenor in the ongoing matter concerning the felling of trees for infrastructural projects in Delhi.The Court on March 26 also directed the Tree Officer to pass a fresh speaking order on CPWD's application within two weeks..Advocates Asmita Singh, Anirudh Anand, Tushar Nain, Punish Handa, Piyush Sharma, Pratyush Jain and Eish Kesarwani assisted the amici in the case.Advocates Avshreya Pratap Singh Rudy, Usha Jamnal, Harshita Chaturvedi, Siddhant Nagar, Sanjay Kumar Pathak, SK Jha, MS Akhtar, Mayank Madhu, SS Siddiqui, Sarosh Ali, Manish K Bishnoi, Khubaib Shakeel, Sudhir Mishra, Petel Chandhiok, Vaishali Gupta and Avni Singh represented the respondents.The application by the CPWD was drafted by advocates Sudhir Mishra, Ritwika Nanda and Petal Chandhok..[Read order]