The Uttarakhand High Court has issued contempt notice to the then secretary of Public Works Department RK Sudhanshu and assistant engineer Dharendra Kumar and ordered them to submit their reply for not following the detailed orders of the court in the widening of Sahastradhara Road in Dehradun. The single bench of justice Ravindra Maithani issued this order. The matter will be taken for hearing next on December 20.
Dehradun resident Ashish Garg had in the past filed a public interest litigation stating that he had opposed the felling of about 100 trees for widening of Sahastradhara Road. In its order, the HC had stated that eucalyptus trees could be cut while all the other fruit trees should be transplanted. The court had issued this order on September 16, 2022 to Sudhanshu regarding the use of new transplantation technique, use of new tools and equipment along with using the services of experts from the Forest Research Institute. Counsel for the petitioner Abhijay Negi presented photographs in the court to contend that the transplantation was done in a very crude manner. The fruit trees had been shorn of their leaves and only small portions of the branches had been left. The trees had been transplanted in a wrong manner which contradicts the orders of the court, the counsel contended.
