Bengaluru: On Thursday (April 3), the Supreme Court ordered the Telangana government to stop clearing trees and vegetation across 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli, a forested area near the University of Hyderabad.
In its interim order – in a suo motu matter taken up by the court based on media reports – it ruled that the state government shall not cut any more trees in the area without its further orders.
The matter was also being heard – through two public interest litigations – on both April 2 and 3 in the Telangana high court.
On April 2, the high court too had ordered that state authorities pause tree felling in the area until the cases were heard.
In another order on the same day, the Supreme Court asked the state what the “compelling urgency” was to cut the trees, and asked the Telangana chief secretary – who, the court said, would be held “personally liable” if its orders were not followed – to file an affidavit with details such as why an environment impact assessment was not done before the trees were felled.
The Telangana government had been clearing trees in the Kancha Gachibowli forest area despite protests by students of the University of Hyderabad since March 30.
Several students had shared videos – many of which have been re-shared thousands of times – of numerous JCBs tearing down trees in the middle of night.
The Telangana police had also lathicharged protestors at the site and detained at least 50 students since then.
‘Vast deforestation’: Supreme Court
On Thursday morning, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of news reports about Telangana state authorities clearing trees in the Kancha Gachibowli forest area near the University of Hyderabad.
A bench Justices B.R. Gavai and A.G. Masih noted the tree felling and that news reports depicted “vast deforestation” in the area.
“From the newspapers, it depicts that a vast deforestation is being carried out in the Kancha Gachibowli forest. It shows that large number of trees are being felled,” the court noted. “The news items shows that the authorities, taking advantage of long holidays over the weekend, have rushed through in felling the trees.”
The bench also noted that the area is home to eight species of scheduled animals – wildlife that are protected and listed in the Schedules of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972. Among them is the Indian peafowl, the national bird of India that is listed in Schedule I of the Act and thus afforded the highest protection under Indian law.
The bench asked the Telangana chief secretary to ensure that no tree felling will occur again in the area until further orders are passed by the Supreme Court. It also asked the registrar (judicial) of the Telangana high court to inspect the spot and report to it by 3:30 pm on Thursday and said it will hear the matter again at 3:45 pm.
At 3:45 pm, the Supreme Court bench heard the case again. It said that the report filed by the judicial registrar of the Telangana high court showed that huge development activity was being undertaken in the area, LiveLaw reported.
The report presented an “alarming picture” of the huge number of trees felled and the deploying of machinery and JCBs to disturb the area of hundreds of acres, the court noted as per LiveLaw.
The court also noted pictures showing peacocks and spotted deer fleeing from the region as the activities ensued.
The state, meanwhile, responded that the area was not a “forest area” and that the land was “industrial land”. The intention of the state was to set up an IT park in the area, per reports.
Incidentally, the Godavarman judgment of 1996 – which the Supreme Court has said has to be upheld – notes that even if an area is not designated as forest land but meets the dictionary meaning of a forest, it should be protected as a forest too.
“Forest or not”, felling trees in 100 acres in just two to three days is “something”, the Supreme Court noted in its April 2 evening order, as per LiveLaw. Moreover, what was the “compelling urgency” to fell the trees so soon, the bench asked the Telangana chief secretary.
It asked if the state had conducted an environment impact assessment before undertaking the developmental activities to clear the land to build an IT park. It also asked the chief secretary if the state had taken permission from forest authorities for cutting trees and what the state was doing with the felled trees.
These are some of the questions the bench has asked the chief secretary to respond to via an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court. The bench also warned that the chief secretary would be held “personally liable” if the state did not follow the court’s orders regarding the ban on tree felling in the area.
“Chief secretary will go to temporary prison constructed on the same spot near the lake … if the chief secretary wants to enjoy the state hospitality, one can’t help it,” Bar and Bench quoted Justice Gavai as saying.
State bulldozes its way
The stay order by the Supreme Court is the “first victory”, said University of Hyderabad student union cultural secretary K. V. Krishnamurthy.
“We believe in democracy [and] rights and we will follow the rules and take this up legally,” he told The Wire over a phone interview.
It was around March 10 that students began noticing a deployment of JCBs that were clearing the area, he said.
The Telangana government had been clearing trees in the Kancha Gachibowli forest area – near the University of Hyderabad – since March 30.
Several students from the university had shared videos – many of which have been re-shared thousands of times – of numerous JCBSs tearing down trees in the middle of night, as peacocks cried loudly in the background.
Students of the university have been protesting against the tree felling since then.
The Telangana police not only lathi-charged the students and protesters at the site but also detained more than 50 students.
Telangana police lathicharge against protesters resisting the Congress govt’s decision to auction 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli adjoining University of Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/G8Yac2YqTq
— TheNewsMinute (@thenewsminute) April 2, 2025
There have been multiple reports, including videos, of police excesses while they were trying to disperse the protesters and students.
Police violence on Hyderabad University students protesting the illegal felling of 400 acre #KanchaGachiBowli forest.
CM @revanth_anumula stop this brutality on youth, who clearly see that forest is more important for their futures than an IT park. pic.twitter.com/WMNSgyzcsj
— M.Yuvan (@Yuvan_aves) April 2, 2025
The state has held that the area belongs to the state government and that it would be developed for an IT park.
Following this, on April 2 and 3, the Telangana high court also heard two public interest litigations about the felling of trees in the area. On April 2, the high court also asked state authorities to pause the tree felling till April 3, until the case was heard.
Political turn?
While there have been several claims of political parties funding or supporting the protest, this was not the case, Krishnamurthy told The Wire.
“Today’s decision [by the Supreme Court to stop tree felling] was due to the viral footage that students captured and posted on social media,” he said. He added that it was a students’ agitation and that no parties had funded their protests.
However, the felling of trees at Kancha Gachibowli has taken a political turn, with political parties taking up the issue – many a time overlooking other contending environmental issues that their parties have not taken up.
Many netizens lashed out at the Congress-led government at the state and asked why the party’s Rahul Gandhi, who has been vocal about environmental issues – including, most recently, offshore sea mining near Kerala and Nicobar – had not raised his voice against the trees being felled at Kancha Gachibowli.
.@RahulGandhi if you see what we see here in #KanchaGachibowli #Hyderabad you will speak up now. #SaveHCUBioDiversity #SaveHCU #SaveKanchaGachibowli pic.twitter.com/6EUsWnZz2K
— WhereAreTheWomen? (@wherearewomen1) April 2, 2025
Responding to the orders imposed by the Supreme Court that made sure that tree felling was stopped in Kancha Gachibowli, K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and MLA from Telangana’s Sircilla said that it was a victory for “the youngsters from the University of Hyderabad, whose inspiring and relentless struggle has resulted in this positive verdict”.
Huge thanks to the Honorable Supreme Court for intervening in the Kancha Gachibowli issue
This is a victory for the youngsters from the University of Hyderabad, whose inspiring and relentless struggle has resulted in this positive verdict
Thanks to all the activists,…
— KTR (@KTRBRS) April 3, 2025
KTR had also warned prospective buyers of the land that once his party, the BRS, comes back to power, it will reverse the current Congress government’s decision and make the 400-acre park the largest “ecopark”.
Many BJP handles posted videos of the clearing of trees in the area on X. The Telangana BJP president posted that he had submitted a representation on the “unauthorised deforestation” on Kancha Gachibowli to Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav.
Yadav, meanwhile, responding to a supplementary question during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha by BRS MP V. Ravichandra, said that the Union government would “take action on those responsible” for the uprooting of trees and destruction of the environment at Kancha Gachibowli, Deccan Chronicle reported.
The BJP-led Union government is still going ahead with its proposal to cut lakhs of rainforest trees in the Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Island complex for setting up several developmental projects, including an international transshipment terminal and greenfield airport – just one of the many environmentally destructive projects it is taking up.
