SC mulls setting up panel to vet permission for felling of trees

The Supreme Court on Friday proposed to set up a committee of experts and said it would direct that the permission granted for felling of trees in Delhi would not be implemented without the panel's nod.

Referring to the depleting tree cover in the national capital, the apex court observed the committee of experts would look into the permission granted by the tree authority and the tree officers appointed under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.

"We are going to pass an order that permission granted for felling of trees will not be acted upon unless the committee vets it. It will be subject to the suggestions made by the committee," a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said, adding that the court would also lay down a related criteria.

"We propose to constitute a committee of experts," it said.

The bench was hearing an application seeking to restrain the Delhi government from allowing felling of trees without the apex court's permission.

"We want to know how the tree authority is functioning," the bench, at the outset, remarked.