Supreme Court on Thursday ordered an immediate halt to the felling of trees on 400 acres of forest land in Kancha Gachibowli, Telangana, until further notice.
The bench, consisting of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih, delivered the ruling after a newspaper report highlighted the extensive tree felling at the site.
The court directed the Registrar (Judicial) of the Telangana High Court to visit the site without delay and submit an interim report by 3:30 pm today.
The court has scheduled a hearing on the matter for 3:45 pm and clarified that it has not put a hold on the proceedings of the High Court, according to an ANI report.
A bench consisting of Justice BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih, while registering a suo motu case on the issue, ordered that “until further orders, no activity of any sort, except the protection of trees already existing, shall be undertaken by the State.”
In case any of the directions issued by us are not complied with in true letter and spirit, the Chief Secretary of the State shall be held personally liable,” the bench added.
“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,” SC said.
The recent ruling follows an advocate’s report highlighting the large-scale tree felling that occurred over the weekend.
While delivering the verdict, Justice Gavai remarked that the authorities exploited the extended weekend holidays to carry out the tree cutting, referencing the newspaper report.
Students from the University of Hyderabad staged protests against the tree felling, with nearly 50 students being detained by Cyberabad police on March 30 after demonstrating on the East campus.
The Protest
The Hyderabad students announced an indefinite protest and class boycott, calling for the removal of police personnel and earth-moving machinery from the campus on April 1. Their demands include a written assurance that the land will be officially registered under the university, the public release of minutes from the Executive Committee meeting on the issue, and increased transparency in land-related documents.
The Telangana government’s plans to develop IT infrastructure and other projects on 400 acres of land have sparked protests from student groups at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), with the government insisting that the land belongs to the state, not the university. However, the UoH Registrar issued a statement asserting that the boundaries of the disputed land had been finalized, directly contradicting the government’s claim. In a detailed note on the issue, the government accused political leaders and real estate groups of misleading the students.
