The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) axed 3,000 trees last year and many of them have been reduced to stumps overnight. This, when the civic body did not have the legal backing to do so.
The High Court of Karnataka had, in November 2012, directed the BBMP to reconstitute its Appellate Authority and exclude BBMP members from it, as per Section 14 of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976.
The court had observed that no tree felling permission should be given till the Authority is reconstituted. It said that tree officers cannot be the judges on tree-felling issues.
The Advocate General, representing the BBMP, had sought four weeks time, within which the BBMP was to reconstitute the Authority. But till date nothing has happened.
A BBMP forest cell official said: “Palike officials are not oblivious to this development. They are just ignoring it”.
“Apart from planting trees, the main role of BBMP’s forest wing is to permit the pruning and cutting of trees. The BBMP, through the department, claims to be custodian and owner of all trees in Bangalore. So, if the orders are implemented, the department will have no powers or even work to do. Thus, the changes suggested have not happened,” the official added.
A meeting in this regard, of the BBMP forest wing officials and secretaries of the departments of urban development, forest and ecology, was held in October.
The meeting failed. The BBMP forest cell official pointed that during this meeting, the secretaries claimed that the advocate general had approached the court without consulting them and they were not in favour of the verdict. They also asserted that if the court wanted to abolish the BBMP forest department, it could do so.
Despite repeated attempts, N Sivasailam, principal secretary of the department of forest, environment and ecology, was not available for comment.
‘Aware of the issue’
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Kaushik Mukherjee, former principal secretary of the department of forests, environment and ecology and the present chief secretary, said, “I am aware of the issue, but the file has not yet come to me. I will look into the matter on Monday and a meeting will be called soon.”
Brijesh Kumar, BBMP chief conservator of forests, said that tree officers gave permission to axe 3,000 old and new trees in Bangalore from November 2012 to November 2013. But no saplings were planted during this time.
BBMP commissioner M Lakshminarayana agreed that BBMP was yet to look into the matter, but said that it would not take much effort to reconstitute the Authority.
Environment Support Group coordinator Leo Saldanha said that, “The court has observed that the Tree Act is faulty. The forest wing is not illegal, but the acts of the wing are illegal. Despite this, work by the department is still on.”