Telangana High Court orders man to plant 200 trees as compensation for clearing forest land
Hyderabad: Justice NV Shravan Kumar of the Telangana High Court has directed an individual to plant 200 saplings in a reserve forest area as compensation for clearing two acres of forest land using his tractor.
The directive came while the court was hearing a petition filed by M Mallesh. Forest officials had seized his tractor after discovering that he had ploughed and cleared a portion of reserve forest land in Bellampally’s Kushenpally Forest Range.
Justice NV Shravan Kumar mandated the release of the tractor upon the petitioner, furnishing a bond of Rs. 50,000 and providing two sureties of equivalent worth. However, the judge NV Shravan Kumar said that the petitioner would not be allowed to evade accountability for the damage caused to the forest.
In his interim order, Justice NV Shravan Kumar instructed the petitioner to plant 100 saplings per acre for the two acres of cleared forest land, totaling 200 saplings. He expressed concern over the increasing number of forest offenses, despite the Supreme Court’s clear directives to protect forest areas and maintain green cover.
The Telangana High Court Judge dismissed the petitioner’s claim of innocence, in which he stated that he was only responsible for renting out his tractor to farmers. Forest officials presented evidence showing the petitioner as a repeat offender in similar environmental violations, which led the court to reject his explanation.
According to the Telangana Forest Department, the procedure for tree felling is as follows:
1. Application: The applicant must visit the tree felling website at http://fmis.telangana.gov.in/EDB/Exempted_Form13A.aspx and complete the form for tree felling.
2. Payment: After submitting the application form (self-certification), the applicant must make the payment of fees online.
3. Tree Felling: Once the payment is processed, the applicant can proceed with felling the tree.
