Thread by @barandbench

Chief Justice of India SA Bobde hears an application for permission to fell thousands of trees.

CJI: PWD assures that they will compensate by planting the same trees in another area so that there is no loss to environment in general

#SupremeCourt
#deforesation

CJI: not possible for us to accept a compensation in merely arithmetical terms especially when there is no statement forthcoming from Uttar Pradesh or PWD as to nature of trees that is to say they are classified as shrubs or large trees

CJI: Moreover there is no information available regarding age of the trees since its obvious that there cannot be compensatory reforestation if 100 year old tree is cut down. Ms Bhati, ASG for UP did not make a statement as to which forest dept intends to evaluate trees in Q

CJI: clearly they cannot do so in terms of timber but must adopt a method of evaluation which takes in to account oxygen producing capacity of the particular tree over the remaining life span assuming it may be cut now.

CJI: Senior Adv ADN Rao says there is a method of Net Present Value method of evaluation. UP has to look into NPV value. We adjourn the case by 2 weeks so that state of UP may tell the court method of evaluation it intends to adopt.

CJI: UP to ascertain the total number of trees to be felled for building roads. It is clear that only effect if the trees are retained would be roads may not be straight and therefore capable of high speed traffic. Such an affect may not be be necessarily deleterious

CJI: case adjourned for 4 weeks.