Coming down heavily on the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the felling of trees in the capital’s Ridge area, the Supreme Court today said it cannot brush aside “brazen acts” that lead to the destruction of the environment.

“If authorities are not performing their statutory and constitutional duties, the court has to give a loud signal to all authorities that the environment cannot be damaged in such fashion,” a bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said.

The court, which was hearing a suo motu contempt case against the DDA vice-president, also proposed a large-scale tree plantation drive in the national capital. This comes days after the city reeled under an unrelenting heatwave that claimed many lives. The court asked the DDA how a Tree Protection Act can be implemented and said it will give instructions to civic authorities to conduct a tree plantation campaign.

The vacation bench today fielded tough questions to the DDA on how trees in the Delhi Ridge area were felled despite a Supreme Court order against cutting trees in the area.

“It is very shocking if the trees were cut despite knowing that it cannot be done without the permission of the Supreme Court,” Justice Oka said. He then asked if Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had asked DDA officials to remove the trees. Mr Saxena is the chairman of the DDA.

“We are dealing with a very serious issue? 1100 trees, you taking it very casually? Ask your officer who issued these directions… is it the chairman? Then we are making him a party,” the court asked.

The court noted that the trees were cut after the Lt Governor’s visit and asked the DDA counsel if they are “defending actions by the LG”. “Two documents placed on record which says LG directed to cut trees, how can you run away from this? are you defending the LG?” Justice Oka asked.

Mahesh Jethmalani, who appeared for DDA vice-chairman Subhasish Panda, asked if the Lt Governor was informed about the Supreme Court order protecting the trees. To this, Justice Oka said, “In a lighter vein, I have read that famous Sherlock Holmes story – the secret why the dog did not bark.” The judge was referring to the short story, The Adventure of Silver Blaze, in which a horse is stolen but a dog that sees it does not react because it is an inside job.

“We are trying to find out the truth and we expect better assistance from the DDA. We are pained to know what kind of valuable trees have been felled,” the court said.

The court has now asked the DDA vice-chairman if there is an official record of what transpired during the Lt Governor’s visit. “We need a clear statement of facts from the VC, because if what is indicated in the emails is correct, then the felling of the trees was on the directions by the LG. We expect the DDA to come clean on this aspect,” the court said.

“From the affidavit of the DDA vice-chairman, it appears that the entire blame has been shifted on the officers stating that they were responsible for directing the contractors to cut the trees without the permission of the Court,” the court noted, issuing contempt notices to these officers.

The Supreme Court also ordered that in all current and future contracts, DDA must include a clause that felling of trees is not permissible without the court’s permission.

“We propose to hold a detailed enquiry into the acts of the DDA which resulted in the destruction of several valuable trees and consequentially the destruction of the environment. Such brazen acts in the capital city cannot be lightly brushed aside by this Court. If authorities are not performing their statutory and constitutional duties, the court has to give a loud signal to all authorities that the environment cannot be damaged in such fashion,” the court said. The matter will be heard next on Wednesday. 

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, objecting to the talks on water sharing between the Centre and Bangladesh — a session Bengal was not invited to attend. Turning down the Centre’s proposal for sharing of Teesta water, she wrote, “Such unilateral deliberations and discussions without consultation and the opinion of the state government is neither acceptable nor desirable”.

The discussion on sharing of Ganga and Teesta waters took place over the weekend, when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Delhi — days after she came to attend the oath ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his historic third term.

“I came to understand that the Government of India is in the process of renewing the India-Bangladesh Farakka Treaty (1996) which is to expire in 2026. It is a treaty which delineates of sharing of water between. Bangladesh and India and as you are aware it, has huge implications for the people of West Bengal,” Mamata Banerjee wrote. The people of Bengal, she added, would be the “worst sufferers” of such treaties.

“The state of West Bengal has cooperated with Bangladesh on several issues in the past,” Ms Banerjee added, pointing to the exchange of India-Bangladesh enclaves, Indo-Bangladesh Railway Line and bus services. “However, water is very precious and is the lifeline of the people. We cannot compromise on such a sensitive issue which has severe and adverse implication on the people,” she added.

Citing the proposed sharing the waters of Teesta, a river in north Bengal, she said the health of Teesta on the Indian side has “suffered” much already due to the construction of several hydropower projects in Sikkim and deforestation in the river’s upper catchment area, and now there is not enough water to share.

“It seems that in the meeting, Government of India has proposed a bilateral cooperation between India and Bangladesh for restoration of Teesta in Bangladesh. I am surprised by the fact that no concrete steps have been taken by the ministry of Jal Shakti to restore the river in its original form and health on the India side,” she wrote.

“Due to the reasons stated above, water flow in Teesta has gone down over the years and it is estimated that if any water is shared with Bangladesh, lakhs of people in north Bengal will get severely impacted… therefore it is not feasible to share Teesta water with Bangladesh,” she added.

Chennai-based The ePlane Company and Bengaluru-based Leap Aeronautics are also part of the initiative to introduce eVTOLs for urban air mobility in India by 2030.