Gurgaon: The central empowered committee (CEC), constituted by Supreme Court, has sought the first environmental clearance granted for a realty project.The project, for which the CEC is seeking all “relevant documents”, is at the centre of a dispute over large-scale tree felling in an ecologically sensitive area in Sector 54.The petitioner has alleged that more than 2,000 mature trees and substantial green cover were cleared, natural landforms altered and plantation activities undertaken without complying with environmental safeguards.However, the Haryana forest department told the CEC that permission had been granted to fell 2,867 trees and transplant another 79 under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA). The CEC’s seeking the environmental nod comes against this backdrop.Environmental activist Vaishali Rana told TOI, “Tree felling was carried out after sunset and without valid permission. That is why the CEC has sought all the relevant documents to examine the matter.”The CEC directed the developer to furnish a copy of the first environmental clearance granted for the project and provide its reply to the petitioner.The CEC also granted the petitioner two weeks to file a response to the replies submitted by the developer and the forest department.The developer, represented before the CEC by senior counsel, argued that the petitioner had suppressed material facts and that the issue had already been adjudicated by the high court.It also submitted that two other petitions on the same issue, including one filed by the petitioner, are pending before National Green Tribunal.The petition seeks an independent assessment of the ecological damage, disclosure of all approvals and permissions, environmental compensation and a time-bound restoration plan. The project lies adjacent to the Maitri Van project.The Haryana forest department defended the exercise before the committee. Divisional forest officer Surender Dangi informed the CEC that the developer had submitted four online applications under Section 4 of the PLPA, 1900, seeking permission to fell 2,867 trees, most of them Prosopis juliflora (Neltuma juliflora) and transplant 79 trees.The department said the permissions were granted after due process and were subject to compensatory plantation at a ratio of 10 saplings for every tree removed.The forest department also told the committee that the petitioner had not disclosed earlier litigation on similar issues that had already been decided by Punjab and Haryana high court.The case was first heard by the CEC in April this year, when the Haryana forest department defended the Maitri Van project, saying it is an afforestation initiative on land notified under Section 4 of the PLPA.The department argued that afforestation, plantation and other silvicultural operations undertaken as part of the project do not require approval under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, as they are part of forest conservation and management rather than diversion of forest land.
