The Supreme Court (SC) has fined a man Rs 4.54 crore for cutting down 454 trees in the protected Taj Trapezium zone in Uttar Pradesh. The trapezium zone is meant to protect the Taj Mahal.
In their judgement, Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said, “Cutting a large number of trees is worse than killing human beings,” while fining a man Rs 1 lakh for each illegally cut tree.
A bench made the observation while rejecting the plea of Shiv Shankar Agarwal, who had chopped down 454 trees in the Taj Trapezium Zone.
The court said it would take at least 100 years to again regenerate or recreate the green cover created by 454 trees which were cut without permission.
The top court accepted the report of the central empowered committee (CEC), which recommended a fine of Rs 1 lakh per tree for cutting 454 trees in Dalmia Farms in Mathura-Vrindavan by Agarwal.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Agarwal, submitted that he has admitted the mistake but the court refused to reduce the fine amount. The court said Agarwal should be allowed to do plantations at a nearby site and said the contempt plea filed against him will be disposed only after compliance.
The top court also recalled its 2019 order which had removed the requirement of obtaining prior permission to cut trees on non-forest and private lands within the Taj Trapezium Zone.
