Recently, the High Court of Delhi directed the Public Work Department to plant around 200 trees along the Mathura Road and Bhogal Flyover. A single-judge bench of Justice Najmi Waziri asked Public Works Department about the concretisation of a cycling path along Mathura Road.

“How did you lay this path? It shows you uprooted some trees. Somebody directs you so you will do it without complying with the law?” the court asked. Advocate Avishkar Singhvi, representing PwD showed the photographs and said that the concretised path had been broken down. Advocate Singhvi submitted that the debris had also been cleared, post the breakdown. To this, Justice Waziri remarked, “This is good work. Remedial work has been done, if I may say”.

Delhi High Court also noted that PwD had submitted the affidavit concerned to the effect that the concretised cycling track on Mathura has since been removed. The court, however, said that as a remedial measure and ordered the officer to plant 200 trees along Mathura road up to Bhogal flyover. It asked the PWD to file an affidavit on this and directed it to complete this work in two weeks.

The plea was filed by Neeraj Sharma back in the year 2021., alleging the glaring victimisation of trees on account of construction work on the road. Later in July 2022, Delhi High Court kept its order sentencing three PWD officers for contempt of court in abeyance after they volunteered to plant 830 trees in the national capital. Two of the officers were earlier sentenced to two months imprisonment and the third officer to four months in jail.

Advocate Aditya Prasad, the Counsel member of Neeraj Sharma informed that as per figures submitted by the Department of Forest and Wildlife, Delhi government, the petitioner had calculated that between 2019-2021 “5.065 trees/per hour” had been felled in the city. 

The court was “alarmed and disheartened” to see that the figures are now twice the number that was recorded by the court on July 13, 2022. On this date, the court noted the figures mentioned in its order of July 11, 2022, which stated that 77,420 trees were permitted to be felled in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

During the trials, the Court observed that the affidavit did not refer to any discussion with the engineer-in-chief, PWD, and the chief secretary on the issue of felling trees in terms of the orders of February 3 and February 9 and directed the engineer-in-chief to file an affidavit on this issue. The court also asked the PWD engineer-in-chief to remain present in court during the next hearing.

The next date of hearing is on 10th March, 2023