Supreme Court Halts Tree Felling in Hyderabad's Kancha Gachibowli: Here’s Why

The Supreme Court directed the Telangana government to immediately halt all tree-felling and excavation activities being conducted on 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli near the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) campus on April 3.

A bench of the court comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih directed the Registrar of the Telangana High Court to inspect the site and submit a report today by 3.30 pm, according to Live Law.

The court also directed the Chief Secretary of the state to ensure that felling of trees does not resume till further orders. The case will be heard at 3.45 pm today.

"Newspapers depict that vast deforestation is being undertaken in the Kancha Gachibowli forest. It shows that large number of trees are being fell. The news items show that taking advantage of long holidays over the weekend, the authorities have rushed to felling the trees. It is further reported that the forest area is house to 8 types of scheduled animals," the court observed in its order, according to Live Law.

The top court’s intervention comes after media reports highlighted the massive clearing of green cover in the Kancha Gachibowli forest area from Sunday, March 30. According to HT, authorities had taken advantage of the holidays to expedite deforestation, causing serious threat to the habitat of at least eight scheduled animal species. Senior advocate K Parameshwar, who has been assisting the bench as an amicus curiae, in environmental matters, brought the issue to the notice of the court.

Students and environmental activists staged protests against the government’s actions, drawing the attention of the high court. According to The Indian Express, rights activist and former UoH professor Dr G Haragopal said that no excuse for development is justification for the destruction of the environment.