HC seeks public scrutiny of Housing Board's tree transplantation claims

Bhopal: Holding that the tree transplantation dispute concerns the environmental rights of every resident of Gwalior, the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday opened the proceedings to the public and invited citizens to submit documents and evidence to assist the court, while warning the Madhya Pradesh Housing Board of “adverse consequences” if its claims are found to be false.Hearing a petition on the transplantation of trees along the Jhansi Bypass, a division bench of Justice G S Ahluwalia and Justice Anuradha Shukla observed that the case involves “vital questions of facts and law touching the rights of each and every citizen of Gwalior” and, therefore, every resident should be informed about the pendency of the case and given an opportunity to assist the court.The bench directed that a public notice be published inviting interested persons to appear before the court personally or through counsel, or send documents by post along with affidavits.

The Principal Registrar has been directed to place all such material received through post on record.The court made it clear that every piece of information received from any source would be used to verify the stand taken by respondents 3 and 4, the Madhya Pradesh Housing Board. “If it is found that the stand taken by them is false, then they must be ready to face the adverse consequences,” the bench observed.The judges also cautioned the Housing Board that if any vital information had been suppressed despite the opportunity granted by the court to file a supplementary reply, the omission would be viewed “very seriously”.

During the hearing, counsel for the Housing Board informed the court that certain documents had been filed but were yet to be brought on record. The bench directed the registry to verify the documents and place them on record.The High Court registry has been asked to prepare the public notice by June 30 and hand it over to the Housing Board’s counsel for publication. The respondents have also been directed to submit the original newspaper carrying the notice along with an affidavit confirming its publication.The matter has been posted for further hearing on July 10.