'Restore forest or face jail time': SC raps Telangana govt again

The Supreme Court on Thursday (May 15) warned that it will put Telangana officials in jail if the state government failed to restore a part of the forest it had chopped down near the University of Hyderabad.

Alleging that the mass felling of trees was "pre-planned", Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih pulled up the Telangana government and said it had to make a choice between restoring the forest or wanting to send their officials to prison.

Earlier, the SC had also warned the Telangana government on April 16 that they should restore the Gachibowli forest or face jail time.

'Pre-planned'

The judges demanded to know why scores of trees were felled taking advantage of a long weekend when the courts were not open.

"Prime facie, it appears that it was all pre-planned. Three days holidays coming and you took advantage as court would not be available," the chief justice said.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the deforestation in the Kancha Gachibowli Forest, the court on April 3 ordered a status quo until further orders.

Govt defends itself

On Thursday, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Telangana government, said no activity was on at the site and assured that the top court's directives would be enforced in "letter and spirit".

Also read: Will go out of the way to protect environment: SC raps Telangana govt

Senior advocate K Parameshwar, assisting the top court as an amicus curiae, said the Forest Survey of India told the Central Empowered Committee after using satellite imagery that only 60 per cent of the 104 acres area where trees were felled was moderately and heavily-densed forest.

Court raps govt

"If you want to be saved from contempt, better take a decision to restore the forest," the bench told the state's counsel.

"We are putting you on guard. If you try to defend such a thing, the chief secretary and all those officers involved will be in trouble. "You should not have indulged into this. Taking advantage of a long weekend, you do all this thing," said the bench.

To fell trees, the bench observed that the state government was required to take requisite permission.

Singhvi, who said the state has filed a counter affidavit, argued he would deal with these aspects during his arguments in the matter.

The bench observed it was the state's choice whether it wanted its chief secretary and half a dozen officers to be shifted to a temporary prison to be constructed at the site.

The Telangana government said it only wanted to go ahead with the IT park construction in the area.

Singhvi said he would try to persuade the court that both ecology and IT could go hand in hand.

Saying "that is another issue”, the bench said: That is not the question here. The question is, felling of thousands of trees taking advantage of the long weekend.”

Also read: Why fight for University of Hyderabad land matters: Interview with activist

On April 16, the apex court told the Telangana government to submit a specific plan to restore the 100 acres of deforested land if it wanted its chief secretary "to be saved from any severe action".

Resistance to govt move

The Revanth Reddy government’s plan to auction about 400 acres of green cover in Hyderabad’s IT hub Gachibowli faced massive resistance from students, teachers and alumni of University of Hyderabad.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) also demanded an end to the “reckless and deplorable” decision of deforestation.

Protesters say the administration’s proposal of allowing IT parks and other projects on the land comes at the cost of replacing the forest patch with a rich variety of flora and fauna which serves as Cyberabad’s lungs with a concrete jungle.