NGT pulls up Khurda officials for failing to comply with order

Cuttack: The National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) east zone bench in Kolkata has pulled up officials of Khurda district for failing to comply with its earlier order on illegal felling of trees from govt land.The bench comprising Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi (judicial member) and Ishwar Singh (expert member) has now issued a fresh notice to the divisional forest officer (DFO), Khurda, directing for submission of a compliance report within one month.The case was filed by Bishnupriya Mohanty, a resident of Laxminarayanpur (Lakhapada) village near Chimma under Tangi tehsil in Khurda district, who alleged large-scale illegal felling of fruit-bearing trees growing on govt land. The petitioner was represented by advocates Sankar Prasad Pani and Ashutosh Padhy.In its order dated Jan 29, 2025, the tribunal had directed the DFO to determine and recover environmental compensation for illegal felling of around 40 to 50 trees.

The tribunal had ordered that “the compensation so recovered shall be utilised towards compensatory afforestation as well as restoration of the concerned area.”Since the DFO has not yet filed an action taken report as directed, the NGT registry had registered a miscellaneous application (MA), which was taken up for hearing on Oct 31. The bench listed it for further hearing on Jan 8, 2026 and directed that the petitioner be informed of the date and be allowed to join the proceedings either physically or through video conference.

In the Jan 29 order, expressing surprise over the handling of the case by local officials, the tribunal had observed: “We find it rather strange that in the application, allegations of illegal felling of trees has been made against six private parties who have been impleaded in the petition as private respondents but strangely FIR dated 24.08.2024 has been lodged... against 'unknown persons'.”The NGT had also then slammed the tehsildar of Begunia, Tapas Kumar Bishi, for delay in reporting the incident. The order stated that the complaint and FIR “show complete dereliction of duty of the said tehsildar in promptly reporting the illegal felling of trees to the collector & district magistrate, Khurda and the divisional forest officer (DFO), Khurda.