LG V K Saxena had visited illegal tree cutting site: Delhi Development Authority to SC

NEW DELHI: Delhi Development Authority has told Supreme Court that lieutenant governor V K Saxena on Feb 3 had visited the Ridge in south Delhi where trees were felled illegally and also placed before the court a list of officers who were present at the site.
In the previous hearing, the court had accused DDA of concealing facts to save “higher ups” as the land controlling agency failed to lift the haze on whether Saxena had visited the Ridge and had approved the felling of over 750 trees in violation of the law for widening of a road.
In an affidavit, DDA vice-chairman Subhasish Panda, who is facing contempt proceedings for violating SC's order on cutting of trees, informed the court that his office had conducted a through inquiry and went through all records and took inputs from other officers to respond to court's query on whether the LG had visited the site.
“Engineer member, DDA, stated that his office had received intimation on Feb 2 from the office of vice-chairman regarding the visit of LG to CAPFIMS (Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences) on Feb 3. His intimation was recorded in the engagement diary in the office of the engineer member. The engineer member further stated that one letter and two emails are part of the file of chief engineer (regarding LG's visit),” the affidavit said.
Panda attached the relevant documents along with his affidavit, including a copy of an email dated Feb 3 addressed by the executive engineer to the office of chief engineer incorporating directions given by the LG during the visit on Feb 3.
The court had issued notice to the vice-chairman on a contempt petition filed by Delhi resident Bindu Kapurea who moved the court through advocate Manan Verma against him for felling trees in violation of various laws. As per the petitioner, more than 1,100 trees were cut as against 633 mentioned in DDA's records. Forest Survey of India, in its preliminary report, said over 750 trees were cut but had sought time to analyse satellite images to ascertain the exact number.
With the SC keen to find out the main person responsible for felling of a large number of trees for constructing a road, it had directed DDA on June 24 to come clean on the LG's role in light of the allegation that the executive engineer, in his email messages, had specifically mentioned that the LG visited the site on Feb 3 and directed cutting of trees. Later, however, the engineer recanted the statement and disowned the mail.
Not satisfied by DDA’s response, the bench had said, “The email says that LG had visited and ordered cutting of trees but no inquiry was conducted on that aspect. Was it not the function of the committee to look into it? You are only protecting the higher-ups and blaming lower officers. There are efforts to conceal the facts and we are not happy. You are unable to give us a record. It is difficult for us to believe that there is no record of LG's visit.”