SC pulls up Haryana Govt for uprooting trees for way to BJP office

Terming it “pathetic”, the Supreme Court pulled up the Haryana Government and its urban development body on Thursday for the uprooting of 40 fully-grown trees to build an accessible road to a newly-constructed BJP office in Karnal, and sought a remedial action plan, warning them of being “taken to task”.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan was hearing a petition filed by a 1971-war veteran, challenging the dismissal of his plea at the High Court on May 3 against the arbitrary allocation of a plot in a residential area to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana and later, the construction of an access road for its office by uprooting 40 fully-grown trees situated in a green area.

“It is pathetic that you uprooted fully-grown trees. Why and what happened to these trees? What is your explanation for this? Why can’t you get the office of the political party shifted to some other location?” the bench asked Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, who appeared in the matter for the Haryana Government.

Banerjee said the required permissions were taken for allotment and all green norms followed. 

He assured the court that trees will be planted in proportion to the number of trees felled.

The bench asked Banerjee who will compensate for the loss of the 40 fully-grown trees. It also asked him to come up with a good explanation, warning that the state and its instrumentalities are bound to be “taken to task”.

“We are warning you that all of you will be taken to task for this,” the bench told Banerjee and other lawyers appearing for different bodies of the state Government.

The court passed the order after hearing advocate Bhupender Pratap Singh, who appeared in the matter for Col (retd) Davinder Singh Rajput, a 1971-war veteran.

“The petitioner was also aggrieved by the felling of 40 trees in the green belt to make a 10m pathway through the 100m green belt in front of the house of the petitioner.

It is pertinent to note that the petitioner had paid 10 per cent preferential-location charges for the green belt facing the plot almost 36 years ago,” the plea said. Singh told the bench that the High Court dismissed Rajput’s writ petition and upheld the arbitrary actions of the State, violating the legal and fundamental rights of the petitioner.