During the proceedings on May 17, the Supreme Court addressed the issue of forest fires in Uttarakhand. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the Court that the State government is treating the matter with the utmost seriousness.

Additionally, it was conveyed to the Court that a collaborative effort involving a union officer, the state's chief secretary, and the Amicus Curiae would be initiated to devise a plan of action.

Previously, Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta presiding over the bench had expressed dissatisfaction with the state's attitude towards controlling the forest fires. They had specifically instructed the Chief Secretary of the State to attend the proceedings in person.

Furthermore, the Court had raised several pertinent queries to the State, one of which was regarding the discrepancy in the release of CAMPA Funds (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority). They questioned why only 3.1099 crores had been released when the Union of India had sanctioned 9.13 crore.

In compliance with last week's directive, the State's chief secretary appeared before the Court. When queried by the Bench regarding the funds, the Solicitor General stated that they were being fully utilized.

It may be noted that in the earlier order, the Court had also posed “As to why the forest personnel were deployed on election duties, in spite of their being a specific exemption issued by the Election Commission of India.”

In this regard, the Union officer submitted that “Principal secretary, forest and environment government of Uttarakhand issued an order dated Feb 3rd to DM to exempt field staff of forest department from the election duty of lok Sabha election, 2024 and also not to engage the field vehicles for this purpose….No filed officer from wildlife sanctuary and national park and senior IFS officers were engaged in the election duty, certain failed officials of the forest department were engaged due to shortage of government staff…”

However, the Court was not satisfied with the report and said that prima facie the information provided to the Solicitor seems to be incorrect. Justice Mehta went on to say “There are images and interviews of your forest guards. They are dousing the fires by using banana leaves. It is a fact which no one can deny…I have read one of these interviews.”

Case Title: THE STATE OF UTTARAKHAND & ANR v. IN THE MATTER OF THE PROTECTION OF FOREST, ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY, WILDLIFE ETC. FROM THE FOREST FIRE ETC., CIVIL APPEAL NO(S). 1249/2019