A police complaint has been filed on Tuesday against the elite Delhi Golf Club by the Delhi government for allegedly felling as many as 100 trees illegally on its premises. The inspection team, comprising four officials of the forest department, made a site visit to the club and submitted its report.
According to an official statement, the complaint has been filed with Hazrat Nizamuddin Police Station on the basis of an inspection report of the Forest Department officials who visited the spot thrice in the past week after an existing member alleged that the club fell over 100 trees without permission from authorities.
The inspection report confirmed that pits were being dug and logs of several sizes were being dumped there. It said that logs already dug out manually from the pits at the site are numbered and lying at the site, the statement said The Forest Department inspection team dug out 425 logs from the club premises during its visit, it said.
However, the government through the forest department has said in the complaint that more pits are required to be dug to extract the logs to ascertain the gravity of the offence.
The Delhi Golf Club "categorically" denied any wrongdoing in the matter, saying the case is an attempt to malign its reputation.
"We are informed about a complaint filed against the Delhi Golf Club in an alleged case relating to the felling of trees within the Club premises. We categorically deny any wrongdoing in the matter; the case is an attempt to malign the reputation of the Club and an effort to wrongly implicate its governing authorities." a statement from the elite club stated.
The government said the matter needs urgent registration of FIR and further investigation by the police department.
The complaint demands registration of an FIR for violation of section 8 and section 23 of Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994, so that the offender could be booked and brought into a logical conclusion before the court of law On the directions of the Chief Minister, Delhi's Environment Minister Imran Hussain had ordered the department to submit an inspection report on the tree felling in the Delhi Golf Club.
"We have not seen the copy of the complaint filed with the local authorities as yet. As law abiding citizens of the country, we will take every possible measure to follow the course of the investigation and extend all possible support to the investigating authorities," the Delhi Golf Club stated.
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