SC Questions Haryana Over Cutting 40 Trees for Access to BJP Office
Top court blasts Haryana govt for “pathetic” destruction of green belt.
The Supreme Court on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Haryana government and its urban development authority for what it termed a “pathetic” decision to uproot 40 fully-grown trees merely to construct a private access road leading to a newly-built Bharatiya Janata Party office in Karnal’s Sector 9. A bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan warned state authorities in unmistakable terms that they would be “taken to task” unless a credible remedial action plan is presented without delay.
Hearing a public-interest petition filed by 79-year-old Vir Chakra awardee and 1971 war veteran Col (retd) Davinder Singh Rajput, the bench repeatedly questioned the rationale behind sacrificing a mature green belt when alternative locations for the political office were evidently available. The court expressed incredulity that decades-old trees, which the petitioner had paid a 10 percent preferential location premium to face 36 years ago, were felled to create a 10-metre pathway through a 100-metre protected green belt solely for the convenience of the ruling party.
The controversy originated from the irregular allotment of a 1,550-square-yard irregularly shaped plot—lying vacant since 1989 and situated on a narrow 9-metre road—to the BJP in clear violation of the Haryana Urban Development Act, 1977, and the state’s own town-planning regulations that mandate institutional sites be located on roads at least 24 metres wide. The subsequent destruction of the green belt has been challenged as arbitrary, illegal, and a blatant abuse of executive power that prioritised political interests over environmental and legal norms.
Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, representing the state, contended that all necessary permissions had been secured and assured the court of compensatory afforestation in the required ratio. The bench, however, dismissed the submission as wholly inadequate, pointedly asking who would compensate for the irreversible loss of ecological services provided by 40 mature trees and demanding to know the ultimate fate of the felled timber. The judges underscored that saplings planted today cannot replicate the oxygen, shade, and biodiversity benefits lost overnight.
Having already imposed a status quo order on October 15 and summoned the chief administrator of the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran to appear personally with complete records, the Supreme Court reiterated its zero-tolerance stance toward further encroachment or development. The bench granted the state limited time to file a comprehensive restoration and rehabilitation plan while making it abundantly clear that environmental protection cannot be subordinated to political expediency, regardless of which party holds power.
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