CJI Sanjiv Khanna recuses himself from hearing pleas related to felling of trees in Delhi ridge

Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Monday recused himself from hearing pleas related to the alleged illegal felling of several hundred trees in the Delhi Ridge area.

Earlier, a bench headed by the then CJI D Y Chandrachud, since retired, had sought a personal affidavit of Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena in the case which had also sought initiation of contempt proceedings against certain DDA officials.

At the outset, the CJI, who was sitting on the bench with Justice Sanjay Kumar, said, “One thing I would like to point out that when I was the NALSA chairman, I had gone to Patna and with Delhi LG had toured jails there. So, it will not be appropriate for me to hear the plea…”.

The bench ordered the listing of the pleas before a bench of which the CJI is not part in the week commencing November 27.

A lawyer pointed out that there were orders passed by two other benches. “We know,” the CJI responded.

On November 7, the top court had asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) about the measures undertaken to restore the Delhi Ridge area, where several hundred trees were allegedly felled illegally, and sought the extent of plantation done by the authorities.

The bench had said it would introduce a monitoring system to ensure planted trees were surviving.

It had wondered if any independent mechanism was in place to ascertain the number of trees planted.

The bench had asked the DDA counsel and the petitioner to inform it about the status of trees felled, consequential actions and the monitoring mechanism.

However, the then CJI-led bench did not pass any order on November 8, the last working day of Justice Chandrachud.  The ridge is an extension of Aravalli Hill range in Delhi and is a rocky, hilly and forested area.

It has been divided into four zones—south, south-central, central and north—for administrative reasons. These four zones make up a total area of around 7,784 hectares.

The bench was dealing with a plea seeking action against erring officials for the alleged illegal tree felling in the area.

“What are you doing to restore the ridge?” the bench had asked, adding, “We want to know how many trees were cut and what is being done to restore the ridge and carry out afforestation.” Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioner, who has alleged contempt on the part of the officials, said according to a report of the Forest Survey of India (FSI), a total of 1,670 trees were cut.

The DDA, however, earlier said the numbers stood at 642 trees.

The top court had issued a contempt notice to the DDA vice-chairman for the felling of trees for the construction of an approach road.

The top court had said that retired IFS officer Ishwar Singh, central empowered committee member Sunil Limaye and ecological gardener Pradip Kishen, would be associated with the work assigned to the FSI.

The bench had observed that 3,340 trees should be planted at the ridge along with 100 times the number of every tree cut.