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Delhi HC: Plant 50 Trees, Quash Criminal Proceedings
The Delhi High Court in a recent development, has directed a man accused of power theft to plant 50 trees as a gesture towards community service . In addition to which, the Court agreed to cease the criminal proceedings against him. The ordering of the High Court came after the Electricity Department of Delhi filed a complaint about the case of power theft wherein - the accused was found to have connected a wire to a public pole located outside his shop.
The accused was directed to report to the Deputy Conservator of Forest (West) who would assign him to plant 50 trees in the area of -Central Ridge Reserve Forest, Budha Jayanti Park, Vandemataram Marg .The planting is required to be completed within a period of one month.
As clarifications Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva stated “The Plant/trees shall be deciduous indigenous variety with a nursery age of three and a half years, and a height of at least six feet. It also depends on the type of the soil and topography, the Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) may consider the following types of trees for plantations”.
The Court ordered the DCF to file a compliance order in the form of an affidavit. Such affidavit is required to be accompanied along with pictures before and after such plantation. The DCF is further required to closely observe the plantation and would be expected to file a report six weeks after such plantation describing the recent status of the trees.
Considering that the accused that rented the shop out to a tenant, and on account of non-payment of dues - services like electricity were withheld, the tenant seems to have indulged in such illegal activity without the consent of the accused. Hence, both parties had seemed to have settled the dispute. The Court was hece of the opinion that continuation of the proceedings in no manner would be of any advantage. At the same tie, proceedings were conducted against the tenant, and he was made to pay a certain amount as civil liability.
