Andhra Pradesh HC Directs Chief Secretary To Constitute Committee To Suggest Measures To Reduce Tree Felling For State Funded Projects

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the state's Chief Secretary to constitute a committee to look into the felling of trees in State-funded projects and suggest measures to reduce the felling of trees for execution of Government funded projects. The order was passed by a division bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Ravi Cheemalapati in a PIL filed by a 20 year old student, Asmad Mohammed Shaik regarding "indiscriminate felling of trees resorted to by the State through its agencies, for development purposes". The plea stated that with a view to protect the already deteriorating ecology, the respondents should be prohibited from felling trees indiscriminately and should adopt other means including translocation of trees, which is possible either through the use of machines or even otherwise manually. We, therefore, direct the Chief Secretary – respondent No.1 to constitute a Committee to look into the issue and suggest measures which can be adopted which will decrease, if not totally eliminate the felling of the trees for execution of Government funded projects.” The Chief Secretary was given the freedom to incorporate other members it deemed fit, and who had appropriate knowledge and expertise in the field into the committee and submit a report within 3 months.