High Court bars cutting of trees for police station project in Sonepat dist

Chandigarh, July 31
“We, the people, have suffered enough environmental degradation, and therefore, this court would not like to be a part of any further deterioration,” the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asserted, while making it clear that as many as 150 century-old trees would not be felled for setting up a police station and police lines in Sonepat district.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikas Suri stated the authorities concerned were free to carry on, if they could construct the police station and the police lines, without cutting/damaging even a single tree out of the 150 in the area.
“If the authorities concerned are unable to construct the police station and police lines without cutting the trees, they are restrained from cutting the trees and are well-advised to find out an alternative site for the project. Any violation of this order shall be viewed seriously,” the Bench asserted.
The directions came on a petition filed by National Environment and Forest Protection Trust Regd. against the State of Haryana and other respondents. — TNS