New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the Telangana government over its “tearing urgency” to fell trees on a land parcel next to the University of Hyderabad and said it would go “out of the way” for the protection of the environment.

Making it clear that the apex court’s first concern was restoration of the environment, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih said not a single tree more should be felled on this land.

“If you want your chief secretary or the secretaries to be saved from any severe action, you have to come out with a plan as to how you are going to restore that 100 acres,” Justice Gavai told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who was appearing for Telangana.

The bench said it was surprised to see videos in which herbivore animals were running for shelter. It said it was also told that some of these animals were bitten by stray dogs.

“We direct the wildlife warden of the state of Telangana to examine and put into effect immediate steps that are required to be undertaken for protecting the wildlife which has been affected on account of deforestation of 100 acres,” the court said.

Justice Gavai said, “You can’t have high rises in the company of the deer.” The bench said rather than justifying it, the better course for the state would be to come up with a plan on restoring the tree cover.

“Otherwise, we don’t know how many of your officers will have to go in a temporary jail to be constructed at the same spot,” it said.

“What was the tearing urgency to do it in three days of holidays?” Justice Gavai asked.

The bench said it was only bothered about the environment and how the state would restore it.

“For the protection of the environment and ecology, we will go out of the way,” it said, adding that under Article 142 of the Constitution, the top court can “do anything”.

Article 142 of the Constitution provides broad powers to the apex court to pass any order to ensure “complete justice” in any matter before it.

Singhvi said all activities in the area in question have been stopped.

He said fake images of elephants were being circulated.

The bench observed it was only concerned with how a large number of trees were felled without the permission of the competent authority and how bulldozers were used for erasing the 100-acre area.

“If you wanted to construct, you should have followed the procedure, got requisite permissions,” it said, adding, “We are only concerned with the damage done to the environment.” Highlighting the importance of sustainable development and protection of the environment, the bench said that even for important projects like the Chardham project in Uttarakhand, the Centre had to fight for years in court.

“Let there be green lungs in the city like we have in Bombay, Chennai and Jaipur,” Justice Gavai observed.

At the outset, Singhvi told the bench that the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has filed a voluminous report in the matter and the state needed some time to respond to it.

The bench granted four weeks to Telangana to file its response to the CEC’s report and posted the matter for the next hearing on May 15.

“In the meantime, not a single more tree would be felled there,” the bench orally said.

The bench asked whether the state had the permission of the tree authority for the felling of trees.

“Yes, except for a small number of trees…,” Singhvi replied.

When the bench was told that some of the trees were exempted by self-certification, the court referred to an order passed by it in December 1996, which dealt with the meaning of the word “forest”, and asked, “Are they above the orders of the Supreme Court?” Senior advocate K Parameshwar, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, said according to the CEC report, the state had mortgaged the land in the area to a private party for Rs 10,000 crore.

Singhvi said the state wanted both employment and development without any harm to the environment.

The apex court asked whether the bulldozers have been removed from the site.

Singhvi said there were “unemployed bulldozers”.

While taking suo motu cognisance of the deforestation activities in the Kancha Gachibowli forest, the apex court on April 3 directed that until further orders, no activity of any sort, except the protection of the trees already existing there, shall be undertaken by the state or any authority.

The bench perused an interim report submitted by the registrar (judicial) of the Telangana High Court which said a large number of small and medium-sized trees and some big trees were being destroyed.

“The report of the registrar (judicial) of the High Court of Telangana as well as photographs sent by him depict an alarming picture. Huge number of trees are being felled and apart from that, huge machinery is being deployed which has already destroyed an area of around 100 acres,” the bench said in its April 3 order.

It said the report also found that a certain number of peacocks, deer and birds were also seen in the area.

“These are, prima facie, an indication that there existed a forest inhabited by the wild animals,” the bench said.

The bench directed the chief secretary of Telangana to answer several of its questions, including whether the state obtained the Environmental Impact Assessment certificate for such developmental activities there.

Early this month, students of the University of Hyderabad protested against the state government’s plans to develop the 400-acre land parcel bordering the university. PTI ABA DIV DIV