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Officers versus officer over felling of trees

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government’s directions to its Forest Department to allow felling of trees on 52 acres in the Aravalli region of Faridabad belonging to Bharti Realty Limited despite the matter being under cognisance of the National Green Tribunal has pitted some Indian Forest Service officers against their IAS boss.



Naveen S Garewal & Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 27

The Haryana government’s directions to its Forest Department to allow felling of trees on 52 acres in the Aravalli region of Faridabad belonging to Bharti Realty Limited despite the matter being under cognisance of the National Green Tribunal has pitted some Indian Forest Service officers against their IAS boss.

The orders issued by Sunil Gulati, Additional Chief Secretary (Forest Department), on June 22 have caused disquiet among the officers of the Forest Department to the extent that the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) has written to Gulati that since the decision has been taken at the government level, the matter before the NGT should also be defended by it.

Notably, the government last month issued a notification for excluding Kikar and Mesquite (Devil’s tree), the two species of trees found in Aravallis, from the purview of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) 1990. When it evoked sharp criticism, the government withdrew the decision, saying, “It was a typing error.” However, in doing so, the government brought these two trees from “medium risk” to “low risk”.

On September 18, 2015, the firm had applied for permission to chop Mesquite “bushes” on the plot. The application was “kept in abeyance” by the Divisional Forest Officer on the ground that the company’s land fell under the “Gair Mumkin Pahar” category (village common lands that later passed into private ownership).

“Permitting felling of trees in the Aravalli deemed forest, which is a Natural Conservation Zone, in Sarai Khwaja, Faridabad, is in violation of Section 2(ii) of the Forest Conservation Act, and the Godavarman (1996), Lafarge (2011) and Samatha (1997) judgments of the Supreme Court,” alleged Chetan Agarwal, an environmental analyst.

Gulati, however, said there was nothing wrong in the order issued by him. He went on to add: “We get over 300 notices from various tribunals in a week. But that does not mean we will close our office. The question here is that the land does not belong to the government, but is private land owned by the developer. We don’t have any locus standi. For over four years, the department has stopped permission though there are merely two trees on the land. The land is not covered under the PLPA 1990. Rather, the government will become liable to pay compensation under the same Act in case the developer approaches court in case of denial of permission,” Gulati said.

Gulati justified his order saying the developer has promised to maintain 33 per cent area as a green belt, including 23 per cent tree plantation.

Bharti Realty’s representative, too, claimed that the company had all the necessary permissions and had done nothing wrong.

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