Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Friday heard an environment-related petition. In this petition, protection of the environmental and historical heritage of the Taj Terrace Zone (TTZ) in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan has been sought. After hearing statements from both sides during the court hearing, it was said that an inventory of trees was necessary to protect them in the TTZ zone.
The petition requested that there is illegal felling of trees in TTZ and the court should direct the relevant departments to save them. But during the hearing, the Solicitor General said no such incident occurred. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court said there should be a clear system to detect the felling of trees.
Covers an area of ​​over 10,400 square kilometers
The TTZ covers an area of ​​approximately 10,400 sq km and spans the Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah districts of Uttar Pradesh and the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.
During a hearing related to this, Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said the responsibility of monitoring these trees lies with the state forest department or any agency recognized by the central government. In this regard, ADN Rao, the amicus curiae present, suggested that wherever trees are felled, the local police SHO should be personally responsible.
Need to calculate the number of existing trees
The Supreme Court said during the hearing that it is difficult to know whether any trees were felled there unless you know how many trees there are in the area. If we want to solve this problem, then we first have to count the trees present here. The next hearing in the case will be held on November 29.
On September 14, when hearing a case related to TTZ, the court issued a stern instruction, stating that if TTZ does not comply with the mandatory afforestation rules, then we will order the demolition of highways and houses on the land.
