SC slaps up to ₹25k fine per tree for illegal felling in TTZ
Agra: The Supreme Court (SC) has imposed penalties of up to Rs 25,000 per tree for illegal felling inside the eco-sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), utilising its authority under Article 142 of the Constitution.
The SC also directed Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI) to submit a presentation to govts of UP and Rajasthan for funds for a tree census in TTZ in a phase-wise manner. The FRI then submitted to court that nearly Rs 7 crore would be required for the census, which is "expected to take 66 months".
A two-judge SC bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan issued the directive on May 13 after noting that the UP govt was yet to act on an earlier instruction to consider raising penalties under the UP Protection of Trees Act, 1976.
In Nov last year, the court had asked the state to consider amending the 1976 Act, highlighting Sections 10 (Rs 1,000 fine) and 15 of the Act that "provided inadequate deterrence" and suggested steeper penalties.
Notably, Article 142 grants SC the power to pass any order necessary to secure complete justice.
The court, while hearing a petition filed by Agra-based activist Sharad Gupta, stated: "There has to be a deterrent on illegal tree felling.
The reason is that illegal felling of trees has a direct correlation with preservation of the Taj Mahal and other ancient monuments in TTZ."
The directions -- aligning with Central Empowered Committee (CEC) recommendations in its 'Report 17' submitted in Sept 2024 -- follow the CEC's detailing of 7,020 trees illegally felled in the TTZ from 2015 to Sept 2024 as a "cause of concern", proposing substantial fines.
As per the apex court's 10-page order, three types of penalties have been set out.
Elaborating on the penalties, the court stated: "For illegal felling of private trees of exempted species by farmers, a penalty of Rs 5,000 per tree may be recovered by the DFO as compounding fees, with timber returned to the farmer. For felling of private trees of restricted species by any person and exempted species by any person other than a farmer, a penalty of Rs 10,000 per tree is to be imposed by the DFO as compounding fees, timber may be seized by forest department and an amount for block plantation of trees 10 times the number illegally felled with five years' maintenance must be deposited with the forest department.
For illegal felling as covered in the Indian Forest Act 1927, a Rs 25,000 penalty per tree is to be imposed by DFO as compounding fees, timber seized by the department, and an amount for tree-guard protected plantation of trees 10 times the number illegally felled with five years' maintenance to be deposited with the forest department."
The court further directed lok adalats and district courts to apply the same penalty formula in disposing of cases related to chopping of trees in the TTZ.
The order has to be forwarded to the registrar general of Allahabad high court and Rajasthan high court, which will distribute it to their respective district courts. Welcoming the apex court's directions, Gupta said, "After streamlining of penalties, now people across the TTZ will think twice before chopping down a tree illegally.
We need to protect the environment across TTZ not only for conservation of three UNESCO sites, but also for our future generation so that they can breathe in a clean environment." The TTZ covers 10,400 sq km around Taj Mahal, including Agra, Mathura, Firozabad, Hathras, and Etah in UP, as well as Bharatpur in Rajasthan and certain parts of Aligarh and Dholpur.
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