Hyderabad campus row: Supreme Court temporarily stays tree felling in Kancha Gachibowli amid students’ protests

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday ordered to stop the cutting down of trees on 400 acres of forest land in Kancha Gachibowli in Telangana until further order.

The bench, comprising Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih, gave the verdict after a newspaper report informed about large-scale tree felling at the site.

The court asked the Registrar (Judicial) of Telangana High Court to visit the site immediately and submit an interim report by 3.30 pm today.

The court has scheduled to hear the matter by 3:45 pm and clarified that it has not stayed the proceedings of the High Court, according to a report by ANI.

What did the bench say?

“We direct the Chief Secretary of Telangana to ensure that until further order is passed by this court no further felling of trees be permitted in the Kancha Gachibowli forest,” SC said.

The recent ruling comes after an advocate highlighted massive cutting down trees had taken place during the weekend.

While stating the verdict, Justice Gavai said that the authorities took advantage of the long holidays during the weekend to cut down the trees, citing the newspaper report.

The bench further stated that the forest area is home to eight types of scheduled animals.

The land located in Hyderabad’s IT hub has been a point of contention as people raise concerns about the loss of trees and space for wildlife.

Hyderabad University students protest

Students from the University of Hyderabad were protesting against the cutting down of trees. On March 30, nearly 50 students from the University were detained by Cyberabad police after staging a protest on the East campus.

On April 1, the students declared an indefinite protest and boycott of classes, demanding the removal of police personnel and earth-moving machinery from the campus.

Their demands include written assurance that the land would be formally registered under the university; public release of minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on the issue by the university; and greater transparency in land-related documents.

What is the Hyderabad Campus Row About?

The Telangana government’s plans to develop IT infrastructure and others on 400 acres of land over which student groups of UoH held protests with the government maintaining that the land parcel belonged to it and not the varsity.

However, the UoH Registrar issued a statement asserting that the boundary of the disputed land in question was finalised, contradicting the government’s claim. In a detailed note on the land issue, the government alleged that students are being misled by some political leaders and realty groups.

The student groups and environmental activists have voiced opposition to the proposal to undertake development work at the site, citing environmental conservation concerns.