Following today’s Supreme Court hearing on the illegal felling of 1,100 trees in Delhi’s Satbari forest area, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj issued a strong statement. The Senior AAP Leader took potshots at the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for lying in court, despite being given two days to gather information. The DDA’s lawyers claimed they were unaware of who ordered the tree felling and where the Lieutenant Governor (LG) conducted an inspection. Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj countered this, stating the DDA knows that on February 3, the LG visited the Satbari forest area and ordered the trees to be cut down verbally.
Senior AAP Leader and Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “All of you know that for the last few days, in the country’s apex court, the Supreme Court, there is a matter of cutting 1,100 trees illegally in Delhi’s reserve forest area ‘Ridge’ without any legal process. When these trees were being cut, I had told earlier that the Forest Department got the news of this, the Forest Department reached there but no action was taken. When an NGO came to know about this, then after cutting the trees, DDA went to the Supreme Court to get permission to cut the trees, and did not tell the Supreme Court that the trees had already been cut.”
The Senior AAP Leader continued, stating, “Because it is a Ridge area, the Supreme Court did not permit DDA to cut the trees. Later an NGO approached the Supreme Court which told the Supreme Court that DDA had committed contempt of court, lied in the affidavit, and the trees had already been cut illegally, after the theft was caught they came to the Supreme Court to seek permission because permission to cut trees in Delhi’s forest area can only be given by the country’s highest court, the Supreme Court. When this theft was caught, the Supreme Court asked on whose orders were the trees cut. The Supreme Court called for the records from DDA.”
Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj mentioned that it was clear in the records of DDA that Delhi LG Vinai Saxena went to the ‘Satbari’ forest area on 3 February and he gave verbal instructions to cut 1,100 trees there. This is written in the emails of DDA officers, not one but three emails, which establish the matter. Despite that, the day before yesterday when the Supreme Court asked DDA to tell us in whose direction these trees were cut. And did LG go for an inspection on 3 February? The DDA is an institution which belongs to the central government and comes directly under the LG of Delhi, Delhi LG is the chairman of DDA. Today when DDA appeared before the Supreme Court, big lawyers came to represent DDA, they kept evading the issue and said that till now DDA has not come to know whose direction the trees were cut, and where LG went for inspection.
“This is a blatant lie. It is clear in DDA’s records that LG went there for inspection and trees were cut on his instructions. Now the question arises, are DDA officers so scared today that they are even talking about their email that we don’t know who wrote the email, we don’t know whether LG came there for a visit or not. When the Supreme Court asserted then the DDA lawyers agreed that the DDA’s engineering chief, Ashok Kumar Gupta, was there with LG on February 3. It is obvious that when the engineering in chief was with LG, and LG visited that place, this thing is on record,” he stated.
The Delhi Minister asked that now the question arises what kind of pressure is there on these officers? Why is this entire bureaucracy living in so much fear of the Lieutenant Governor that they are afraid to accept even the things that are on record, that the trees were cut on the instructions of the Lieutenant Governor, before the court?
The Senior AAP Leader stated, “I used to consider the LG to be very courageous because he would often get some or the other work done by giving verbal orders. For the last 2 years, the LG has been enjoying the power of Delhi without an iota of responsibility. There cannot be any power without any responsibility. This is an old saying, ‘Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely’. How is it possible that the central government is giving so much unlimited power to the LG of Delhi that he has absolutely no accountability? We have seen various instances in the last two years where the LG had no accountability, neither towards the chosen government nor towards the people, he was doing whatever he wanted. He would fire anyone from their job as per his wish.”
For the first time, the country’s apex court has raised the issue of accountability and responsibility of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, which itself is a big thing. The court also said that cutting trees in this manner is a criminal act, criminal proceedings shall be conducted against those responsible. Now the question is whether the LG himself will come forward with courage and say ‘I gave these orders, punish me as you wish.’ Or will the Lieutenant Governor and the DDA again make lower-ranked officers scapegoats as usual? he questioned.
He added, “The LG, his Office, and his media department are silent on this, they’re not even uttering a word on this matter, whether the LG went to the site or not, whether it was his direction or not, they’re afraid of speaking up. They are trying to trap junior officers of the DDA as scapegoats. The biggest question is how the Forest Department, which comes under the Delhi Government, turned a blind eye.
The AAP Leader shared that the court even questioned, ‘Why did the dog not bark?’, why didn’t the one who was responsible raise an alarm? This also proves that the LG repeatedly interferes in the subject matters that come under the jurisdiction of the chosen government. The officers cannot dare to disobey the LG’s directives, even if they are illegal orders. They are compelled to follow all kinds of instructions since the LG has been vested with unlimited powers by the central government.”
“I believe that today all the environmentalists in Delhi, all the big newspapers that are concerned about Delhi’s environment, should raise this issue strongly on their newsletters and TV channels,” Saurabh Bharadwaj concluded.
