The Delhi High Court recently clarified that obtaining permission from the Tree Officer, as mandated by the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 (DPT Act), is obligatory prior to pruning trees in Delhi, irrespective of the girth size of the tree.
In this regard, the Court set aside guidelines that permitted the pruning of tree branches with a girth size of up to 15.7 cm without seeking prior permission from the Tree Officer.
A single-judge Justice Najmi Waziri highlighted that the DPT Act does not permit the cutting of tree branches without the aforementioned permission. The Court emphasized that the reference to “15.7 cm” in the guidelines was inconsistent with the statutory requirements outlined in the DPT Act.
“The so-called permission granted under the Guidelines seek to over-reach the statute. The Guidelines are in conflict with the DPT Act, they are arbitrary and illegal. Consequently, the permission for pruning, presumed to be or granted under the Guidelines would be of no consequence and shall always be non est. Therefore, the Guidelines permitting regular pruning of branches of trees with girth upto 15.7 cm without specific prior permission of the Tree Officer are hereby set aside. The only permission that can be granted for pruning, etc. is under section 9 of the Act,” the bench directed.
It added that the government authorities can frame guidelines and/or rules as may be required in this regard.
The single bench was dealing with a petition filed by Professor Dr. Sanjeev Bagai and others, challenging an order issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The petition sought directives regarding the process followed for tree pruning, with the petitioners arguing that the guidelines issued in this regard were flawed.
During the hearing, the counsel representing the petitioners emphasized that these guidelines allowed for tree pruning without prior approval or even a site inspection or assessment by the Tree Officer/Deputy Conservator of Forests. It was pointed out to the court that the guidelines permitted private parties/entities to prune trees, even on government-owned lands such as those belonging to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and the Public Works Department (PWD).
Justice Waziri made an observation, noting that a tree is a living entity that should be given, at the very least, a final examination and inspection before making a decision to authorize its felling or the removal of its live branches.
Furthermore, the bench thoroughly reviewed several photographs presented by the petitioners and took note of the “blatant instances of misusing the broad authorization granted under the Guidelines for pruning trees or tree branches with a girth of up to 15.7 cms.”
“The occasion to the Tree Officer to inspect or assess the health of the trees, the necessity or justification for pruning has been sought to be scuttled and taken away by the Guidelines. What is the scientific methodology employed to measure that the pruning was done only upto a girth 15.7 cms and not beyond, is not known or specified. Evidently, it is a mere guesswork. An estimation. The Guidelines are not a statutory enactment or an amendment of the statute. They cannot abridge the mandate of the statute. Even a Regulation or Rule, which are creatures of a statute cannot limit, undo or transgress the powers, objective and mandate of the statute itself,” the bench observed before setting aside the guidelines.
