Pruning of trees in Delhi not allowed without permission of Tree Officer: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently made it clear that the permission of the Tree Officer in line with the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 (DPT Act) is mandatory before pruning trees in Delhi regardless of the tree's girth size [Prof Dr Sanjeev Bagai & Ors v Department of Environment Govt of NCT of Delhi & Ors]..To this end, the Court set aside guidelines that had allowed the pruning of branches of trees having a girth size of up to 15.7 cm without prior permission from the Tree Officer. .In an order passed on May 29, Justice Najmi Waziri noted that the DPT Act does not allow the cutting of tree branches without such permission. The figure of "15.7 cm" referred to in the guidelines was incongruous with the statutory requirements mandated under the DPT Act, the Court said..“The so-called permission granted under the Guidelines seek to over-reach the statute. The Guidelines are in conflict with the DPT Act, they are arbitrary and illegal. Consequently, the permission for pruning, presumed to be or granted under the Guidelines would be of no consequence and shall always be non est. Therefore, the Guidelines permitting regular pruning of branches of trees with girth upto 15.7 cm without specific prior permission of the Tree Officer are hereby set aside. The only permission that can be granted for pruning, etc. is under section 9 of the Act,” the Court ordered..The Court added that the government authorities can frame guidelines and/or rules as may be required in this regard..The Court was dealing with a petition filed by Professor Dr. Sanjeev Bagai and others challenging an order passed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The petition had sought directions regarding the procedure adopted for the pruning of trees. The petitioners also contended that the guidelines issued in this respect were erroneous..The counsel appearing for the petitioners highlighted that these guidelines permitted pruning of trees without prior approval and without even a site inspection or assessment by the Tree Officer/Deputy Conservator of Forests.The guidelines permitted private parties/entities to prune trees even on land owned by government authorities like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and the Public Works Department (PWD), the Court was told..Justice Waziri observed that a tree is a living being which must, at least, be given a ‘last look’ and accorded a final inspection before a decision is taken to permit its felling or amputating its live branches.The Court also examined some pictures furnished by the petitioners and noted that there were “glaring examples of misuse of the generous permission granted under the Guidelines to prune trees/tree branches having a girth upto 15.7 cms”.“The occasion to the Tree Officer to inspect or assess the health of the trees, the necessity or justification for pruning has been sought to be scuttled and taken away by the Guidelines. What is the scientific methodology employed to measure that the pruning was done only upto a girth 15.7 cms and not beyond, is not known or specified. Evidently, it is a mere guesswork. An estimation. The Guidelines are not a statutory enactment or an amendment of the statute. They cannot abridge the mandate of the statute. Even a Regulation or Rule, which are creatures of a statute cannot limit, undo or transgress the powers, objective and mandate of the statute itself,” the Court observed before setting aside the guidelines under challenge. .Senior Advocate Vivek Sibal with advocates Anu Monga, Rahul Goel, Shobhit Sharma, Parul Parmar, and Paritosh Dhawan appeared for the petitioners.Additional Standing Counsel (ASC) Shadan Farasat along with advocate Mreganka Kukreja appeared for the Delhi government.Advocate Aditya N Prasad appeared as Amicus Curiae. He was assisted by advocate Harsh Vardhan.The MCD was represented by its Standing Counsel Divya Prakash Pande.Advocate Sakshi Popli appeared for the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.ASC Anupam Srivastava with advocate Vasuh Misra appeared for the Department of Environment, Delhi government, among other respondents..[Read Order]