Mumbai: Every tree and plant is important to nature and they must be protected, held the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court recently. The HC said that it was high time the greenery was preserved to maintain the ecological balance. A bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Pushpa Ganediwala further said that the destruction of forests had a ‘deleterious’ impact on the human life. “The forests have their own importance and the importance has already been acknowledged not only in the ancient past but also in the modern times. The value of the forest has been more realized today than it was before. The destruction of forest and natural resources has a deleterious effect on the mankind,” observed the bench.
The judges in their order further said that such an impact can be reduced only by adopting some measures like sustainable development, water and bio-reserves conservation and so on. “Such impact would even stress the fact as to how valuable is our green umbrella. This means every tree, every plant, everything animate or inanimate present in the forest has the protection of law including that of the Constitution. And thus, needs to be protected,” read the order authored by Justice Ganediwala.
The bench further said in cases involving forests, courts must have a ‘sensitive’ approach. Making a reference to a Supreme Court ruling, the bench said, “Forest is a national wealth which is required to be preserved. In most of the cases, the State is the owner of the forest and forest produce. Depletion of forest would lead to ecological imbalance.” The bench was dealing with a bunch of criminal petitions challenging orders of the Forest Officer by which two vehicles (a Jeep and a car) were ordered to be confiscated. The vehicles were seized after the officers found the owners were transporting 52 teak wood logs, without a legal and valid transit pass. Having scrutinised the material placed on record, the judges concluded that the forest officer was right in confiscating the jeep, however, the bench ordered the forest officer to forthwith release the private car, which was seized at the relevant time.
