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The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered no further felling of trees in 400 acres of forest land in Kancha Gachibowli in Telangana until its further order.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih after perusing the newspaper report about large-scale tree felling at the site, asked the Registrar (Judicial) of Telangana High Court to forthwith visit the site and submit an interim report by 3.30 pm today. Registrar (Judicial) of the apex court to forthwith communicate this order to Registrar (Judicial) of High Court, who shall act upon it forthwith, the bench further ordered. It said, "We direct the Chief Secretary of Telangana to ensure that until further order is passed by this court no further felling of trees be permitted in the Kancha Gachibowli forest." The bench said it will hear case today at 3.45 pm. It further clarified that it has not stayed the proceedings before the High Court. The order of the top court came after an advocate mentioned the matter before it saying massive felling of trees have taken place during the weekend. Justice Gavai while passing the order said that news items show that taking disadvantage of long holidays over the weekend, the authorities have rushed in felling the trees. It is further reported that the forest area is house to eight types of scheduled animals, said the bench. The land is located in the IT hub of Hyderabad and has become contentious with people expressing concerns over loss of green cover and space for wildlife there. University of Hyderabad students have been protesting against the auction of the land and want the land to be transferred to the university. (ANI)
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