New Delhi, Jul 2 (PTI) Delhi Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Tuesday that the fact finding committee set up to look into the alleged illegal cutting of trees in Ridge area has summoned officials again after they did not appear for the first meeting.
In an act of defiance, the principal secretary of Environment and Forest Department on Monday had questioned the formation of a fact finding committee of the Delhi government ministers over cutting of trees in Ridge area, claiming it violated rules and could lead to contempt of the Supreme Court.
The committee, comprising ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Imran Hussain, was formed according to the decision taken in a meeting of the Delhi government ministers on June 29 to look into cutting of 1,100 trees in the Southern Ridge area by the DDA allegedly without required permission.
Addressing a press conference, Bharadwaj said the Supreme Court has ordered the Delhi government to file an affidavit revealing the truth in this matter. In response to this, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai convened a meeting on June 26.
In this meeting, instructions were given to the concerned officials, including Principal Secretary (Forest and Environment) A K Singh, the Principal Conservator of Forests and the Deputy Conservator of Forests South to submit a factual report by the next day, June 27. However, no report was provided to the minister by the officials, he said.
On June 28, the Environment Minister issued another notice requesting a report by the evening, but even after this second notice, no report was submitted by the officials. Consequently, on June 29, it was decided in an all-ministers meeting to form a fact-finding committee to uncover the truth, he shared.
“The committee also issued notices to the officials of the Forest Department and the DDA, but not a single official appeared,” he said, adding that Delhi Police officers who were summoned had appeared before the committee.
Referring to a letter written by Singh, the minister pointed out that while the letter mentioned extensive discussions with the department’s minister regarding this matter, it failed to state that despite multiple requests from the minister, no report was submitted by the officials to the minister.
Minister Bharadwaj announced that the committee has issued notices again to the Forest Department and DDA officials in this matter.
“Principal Secretary (Forest and Environment) A.K. Singh had also written a letter regarding this matter. Therefore, today we have sent a response to the department officials,” the minister said.
In their response, the committee has addressed the officials’ reference to the Transactions of Business Rules in their letter, stating that they are only obliged to respond to their own minister and not to a minister from another department.
“According to Rule 19(3) of the Transactions of Business Rules book, it is clearly stated that any minister can request information from the officials of any department, and if the information is confidential, it can be provided with permission from their respective minister,” he noted.
However, despite multiple requests, the officials did not provide any report to their own minister.
“The three-minister committee was formed with the approval of the minister of the concerned department, Gopal Rai, as he was also present in the all-ministers meeting. Hence, the reference to the TBR book laws by the officials is completely incorrect,” he added.
Bharadwaj stated that Singh also falsely claimed in his letter that the Supreme Court had already formed a fact-finding committee and, therefore, another fact-finding committee could not be formed.
“In its order dated May 16, the Supreme Court had only tasked the Forest Survey of India and two independent experts with submitting a report on the environmental damage caused by the tree cutting and the measures for reforestation. The Supreme Court did not form any fact-finding committee,” he claimed.
The Delhi minister mentioned that any minister can organise multiple meetings and even with officials of other departments.
“Therefore, the claim that officials are only obliged to report to their own minister or attend meetings called by their minister is completely false and baseless. We have once again issued a notice to all the concerned officials to attend the meeting.
“The notice is signed by all three members of the committee of ministers, as well as by Environment Minister Gopal Rai, to prevent officials from using the excuse that they do not have permission from their own minister,” he shared.
He questioned whether any pressure or influence on these officials is preventing them from disclosing information regarding the illegal cutting of 1,100 trees.
“The officials are even unwilling to provide any report to their own minister,” he claimed. PTI SLB KSS KSS
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