In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has declared that cutting a large number of trees constitutes a worse offense than killing a human being, imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh per tree on a man responsible for illegally felling 454 trees in the environmentally sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone.
The bench, led by Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, sternly rejected the plea of Shiv Shankar Agarwal, who sought leniency after chopping down hundreds of trees in the Dalmia Farms area of Mathura-Vrindavan. “There should be no mercy in environmental cases. Felling a large number of trees is worse than killing a human,” the bench asserted during the hearing.
The court emphasized the irreversible damage caused by such extensive tree cutting, noting that it would take at least a century to regenerate the green cover that was lost. The decision came after reviewing a report from the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which recommended the hefty fine for the environmental violation.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Agarwal, admitted his client’s mistake but appealed for a reduction in the fine. The court, however, stood firm on the penalty, underscoring the severity of the environmental breach.
Additionally, the justices directed Agarwal to engage in plantation activities at a nearby site to help mitigate some of the environmental damage he caused. The court also stated that the contempt plea against him would only be disposed of after full compliance with its directives.
In a related decision, the Supreme Court recalled its 2019 order that removed the necessity of obtaining prior permission for tree felling on non-forest and private lands within the Taj Trapezium Zone, reflecting a stricter stance on environmental conservation.
