Telangana HC orders state, civic body not to cut single tree in KBR national park

A Division Bench of Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the state government and the local body that they should not cut even a single tree in the Kasu Brahmananda National Park in Hyderabad till further court orders. 

The bench comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Vijaysen Reddy also directed the two to file a detailed counter- affidavit, furnishing details of the number of trees that were cut from there till now based on the notification that had been issued by the authorities to reduce the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) distance for KBR Park.  

The affidavit must carry the details as to how many trees have been felled, the age of those trees, the varieties of the trees and how long it will take to grow such trees. As per the notification, 1,300 trees were notified to be cut down so as to lay down and expand the road and build flyovers under a Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP). This had been projected as a solution to the traffic problems.

The division bench was dealing with a PIL filed by Kaajal Maheshwari and two others from



Gachibowli, seeking a direction to the authorities to stay the operation of the Notification SO. 3879E, issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change on October 27, 2020 under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, confirming the state's proposal to shrink the eco- sensitive zone under the Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park. 

The petitioner's contentions were that the notification was issued without conducting a public hearing and not following the prescribed norms. It was issued by limiting the ESZ to only 32.9 metres from the forest boundary, whereas rule stipulated that the limit should be a minimum of 100 metres in the urban areas.

Dutt, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that there is no interest on the part of the authorities in following the norms even after 42 meetings were held by the special committee that was constituted to look into the issue.

The bench criticised the officials of the state forest department and the Union Government for delaying the filing of their contentions. The court had directed them to explain the matter in April, 2021.