Judicial Activism and Environmental Protection: Supreme Court’s Suo Motu Action against Deforestation in Hyderabad

In a welcome relief to the citizens of Telangana, the Supreme Court issued strict orders against deforestation of university land in the Kancha Gachibowli region of Hyderabad, wide a suo motu Writ Petition (Civil) No. 3/2025 (Kancha Gachibowli Forest, In re)¹. Before we delve into an analysis of the Court’s order, and what that means for the Telangana Government’s plans to auction the deforested land and develop an IT park in Kancha, Gachibowli, let us understand the background and context of the case.

Background

On the occasion of South India’s harvest festivals, Ugadi and Gudi Padwa, the Government of Telangana decided to give its citizens a surprise gift — the felling of more than four hundred trees and clearing hundred acres of forest land overnight, in the Kancha Gachibowli region of Hyderabad. The forest is said to be home to eight species of scheduled wild animals.² The land is said to be a part of the campus of the University of Hyderabad, although the University does not have ownership of the land as per media reports.³ Students and environmental activists gathered in large numbers at the site of the deforestation to protest the felling of trees. They urged news outlets and social media users to amplify the Government’s actions, raising concerns about the wildlife that would be displaced from the site.

By Wednesday, 3rd April, the issue had reached the Telangana High Court, vide two writ petitions filed by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Vata Foundation ⁴, and another petitioner, Kalapala Babu Rao ⁵. Hearing the writ petitions, the Telangana High Court ordered the Government to stop all developmental activities at Kancha Gachibowli immediately till further orders. On or around the same day, the Supreme Court also took suo motu cognizance of the matter and issued urgent orders to the Registrar (Judicial), Telangana High Court to personally conduct a site inspection and support an interim report to the court by the same afternoon.⁶ As per the Registrar’s report submitted, the Supreme Court placed on record that a large number of small, medium and big size trees were being destroyed, nearly hundred acres of land was deforested, and flora and fauna including peacocks, deer, and birds were inhabiting the forest land.⁷ The Supreme Court further directed the Chief Secretary of the State of Telangana to answer queries of the Court and to ensure that no other activity, except for protection of the remaining trees, be undertaken on the said land, failing which the Chief Secretary would be made personally liable.⁸

Legal context

As per the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023 (Van Rules of 2023) the Central Government was required to constitute Regional Expert Committees in each region to carry out the functions required under the Van Rules of 2023, particularly Rule 16(1). Rule 16(1) states that for the purpose of Government records provided under Section 1-A sub-section (1) of the Van (Sanrakashan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, each State and Union Territory was required to constitute, within a period of one year, an Expert Committee, which would prepare a consolidated record of forest lands, “forest like areas”, unclassed forest lands and community forest lands. Further, as per Rule 16(2), the felling of trees on forest lands approved for use for the non-forest purpose should be restricted to a bare minimum, under the supervision of the local Forest Department. Further, the forest produce obtained from the felling of trees shall be handed over to the local Forest Department for proper disposal, with preference to distribution to local villagers for meeting their domestic requirement.

Further, the Supreme Court itself had passed several orders in Ashok Kumar Sharma v. Union of India⁹. In its order dated 4-3-2025, the Court had directed all States and Union Territories that were yet to comply with the Van Rules of 2023 to form an Expert Committee within one month from the date of the order and for the exercise of the surveys to be completed within a period of six months from the date of the order. In the said case, the Court had also repeatedly directed the Union and State Governments, vide its orders dated 30-11-2023, 19-2-2024 and 3-2-2025¹⁰ to not take any steps that would lead to the reduction of forest land, unless compensatory land was provided.

Analysis

As per the records placed before the Supreme Court,¹¹ the Expert Committee for Telangana had been constituted only on 15-3-2025, barely two weeks before the tree-felling in Kancha Gachibowli was commenced. In the brief period since its formation, the Expert Committee had neither conducted extensive surveys of forest lands nor carried out the procedures required under Rule 16(1) of the Van Rules of 2023. Further, as noted by the Supreme Court, there was a clear presence of wild animals in the said land Kancha Gachibowli. As per the Registrar’s report, recorded by the Supreme Court¹² there was a natural lake within the deforested area and vegetation of different kinds, namely, shrubs, plants, and trees of small, medium, and large sizes were growing on the said land. All of the above factors would lead to the reasonable conclusion that the said land contained forest-like properties. Had the Expert Committee completed its survey, it would have been required to earmark the land at Kancha Gachibowli as forest-like land or land containing forest-like properties, post which the State Government could not have carried out the overnight bulldozing of hundreds of trees unsupervised.

Another pertinent question raised by the Supreme Court in its order dated 3-4-2025 was about the timber obtained from the felling of hundreds of trees. As explained above, Rules 16(2) of the Van Rules of 2023 require the produce obtained from the forest to be distributed as per the local Forest Department, and preferably for the domestic welfare of the local people. Since Kancha Gachibowli lies within the urban city limits of Hyderabad, there are no local or indigenous people around the area who would require timber to meet their domestic needs. Therefore, the question arises as to what the State Government planned to do with the tonnes of timber that would be generated by felling more than four hundred trees. It would be noteworthy to remember that the count of four hundred trees is only a rough estimated figure, and the actual count could be far more, and if not for the Telangana High Court and Supreme Court stay orders, would have been in multiples of four hundred.

It is also interesting to note the timing of the Telangana Government to carry out its deforestation activities. It is unlikely that the overnight felling of trees on 30-3-2025, which also happened to be a part of a long weekend with multiple festivals celebrated across religious communities, happened to be a coincidence and not a strategic move on behalf of the Government.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court’s urgent, timely, and practical handling ofthis case is laudable, particularly its order asking the Registrar (Judicial) of the Telangana High Court to conduct a physical inspection of the site and report back to the Court within a few hours. By doing so, the Supreme Court not only sent out a loud and clear message to the Government of Telangana that nobody is above the rule of law, but it also displayed the Court’s inclination towards protecting our country’s environment and adhering to the environment policy. Had the Court not acted as swiftly as it did in this case, the deforestation of the entire land at Kancha Gachibowli forest would have been completed by the time of the Court’s next hearing. Time was of the essence in this matter, and the Court did not fail the citizens of the country.

The Kancha Gachibowli matter¹³ is also a stellar example of the impact of student movements in protecting the environment. While the issue initially struggled to gain momentum and support, within a couple of days the student protests were being covered by every major regional and national news publication. Eventually, the matter also reached the Telangana High Court all the way to the Supreme Court. The escalation of the Kancha Gachibowli issue is testament to the rule of law and the power of ordinary, common citizens of India to get justice in our courts of law.