The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a halt the further felling of trees or any other activity relating to it, except for protecting the trees that are still existing in the 400 acres of forest land in Kancha Gachibowli in Telangana.

Taking a stern view and ordering that “Until further orders, no activity of any sort, except the protection of trees already existing, shall be undertaken by the State,” a bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih in an unequivocal warning put the onus for the compliance of its orders passed today – both in letter and spirit – personally on the Chief Secretary of Telangana.

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The order said, “In case any of the directions issued by us are not complied with in true letter and spirit, the Chief Secretary of the State shall be held personally liable.”

The top court asked the Chief Secretary of Telangana to file an affidavit replying to five questions including “What was the compelling urgency to undertake the developmental activities, including the removal of trees from the alleged forest area?

Other questions for which the top court has sought reply are – “Whether for such development activity, the State has obtained the Environmental Impact Assessment certification” and “Whether for felling the trees, requisite permissions from the forest authorities, or any other local statutes have been obtained or not?”

The other two questions are “What is the necessity of having officers in the committee constituted by the State of Telangana in as much as prima facie they have nothing to do with the identification of forests?” and “What the State is doing with the felled trees?”

Earlier in the day taking suo motu cognizance of the media reports, the court by an interim order had stayed the further felling of the trees and had asked the Registrar (Judicial) of the Telangana High Court to personally visit the site and submit an on-the-spot interim report to the top court and posted the matter for hearing later in the day at 3.30 PM.

Perusing the report by the Registrar (Judicial) of the Telangana High Court, Justice Gavai said that it showed an “alarming picture” with a large number of trees having been felled, huge machinery and JCBs being deployed in the area. The bench also referred to the pictures showing peacocks and deer fleeing from the area amidst the destruction activities.

The court also referred to its March 4, 2025, order directing the constitution of statutory committees in the States to identify forest lands. The court by its March 4 order had said that the Chief Secretaries of the States would be held personally liable if the statutory committees for the identification of forest lands were not constituted.

Noting that in Telangana the statutory committee was constituted on March 15, 2025, the court wondered what was the “alarming urgency” in cutting down the trees when the statutory exercise to identify the forest lands was yet to commence.