Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena told the Supreme Court in an affidavit on Monday that he was notified about the removal of trees in Delhi’s Ridge area “verbally” in April, but was told that it had just begun in June.
The court had sought clarity from Saxena, who is now the chairwoman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and the then-DDA vice chairman over inconsistent comments made by them when the Lt Governor was informed of the removal of trees in the Ridge area with the court’s consent. A clarification was sought after the court took note of Saxena’s affidavit, which
However, the court stated that the vice chairman’s correspondence to the Lt Governor shows that he was notified of the “blunder of felling trees by DDA officials” before April 12. Lt Governor Saxena has now explained that he was warned about tree felling verbally on April 12 but was told on June 10 that it had already begun on February 16.
He stated that he was briefed verbally by the vice chairman of DDA during the PM-UDAY scheme review meeting at the Lieutenant Governor’s residence, which was attended by the vice chairperson. The Lieutenant Governor asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the contempt notice against DDA officials and direct DDA to proceed with the compensating afforestation work.
The former vice chairman of the DDA also stated in his affidavit that he was verbally informed of the tree felling in April. He said that he was advised of the tree felling through a letter on June 10. He went on to say that he became aware of the tree felling on March 18, when the Delhi High Court handed him a contempt notice, prompting him to take immediate action.
The head engineer of South Zone, together with his staff, visited the site and reported the vice chairman that 642 trees had been cut down.During the last hearing, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the petitioner, told the court that, while the Lt Governor claims he was informed about the illegal felling of trees in the Ridge area on June 10, the court issued contempt notices to DDA officials in May, which were then published in newspapers.