Chopped trees at Indian Botanic Garden

The director of the Indian Botanic Garden will have to appear before the high court on Monday and explain why he had allowed 100 trees to be felled.

The division bench of Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice S. Banerjee passed the order on Friday on a petition filed by green activist Subhash Dutta, who alleged that director G.S. Giri had violated a state act by allowing the felling.

“We are really amazed to hear the news,” Chief Justice Nijjar observed. Dutta wrote in the petition that 100 “full-grown trees, including mahogany and palm,” were chopped off over a month following orders from the director.

Dutta said he had filed a public interest litigation in the high court in 2002 when the Shibpur garden was “on the verge of destruction” because of the authorities’ callousness.

The court then ordered the state government to enact a law to protect the garden. “The law, enacted in 2006, states that felling trees without the forest department’s consent is a punishable offence. A violator is liable to be jailed for six months and fined Rs 5,000,” Dutta said.

The garden authorities claimed some trees had been chopped off to set up a flower garden.