The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into illegal tree felling in Wayanad (north Kerala) observing that there is no need to intervene in the ongoing investigation. The court, however, directed the special investigation team (SIT) to probe all angles of the case and not to spare any one.
A native of Thrissur, George Vattikulam, an activist, moved the High Court last month saying that the SIT investigation was dragging and expressed concern that many influential people involved in the case may go scot free and sought a central agency probe. The court said it is satisfied with the present investigation and directed the SIT to spare no one.
The division bench headed by Chief Justice S Manikumar, however, said if the investigation was not proper or made public, then the petitioner had every right to move court again for another inquiry. “The SIT should probe the tree felling on assigned land, forest and protected areas,” it observed.
The court later accepted the state government’s contention that the case was progressing well and the main accused were arrested. The court also said it did not want to disturb the ongoing probe. Earlier delay in arresting the main accused, three brothers of the Augustin family, had invited sharp criticism from the court. The Kerala government had opposed the CBI probe.
In October 2020, the state revenue department had issued an order allowing felling of protected trees like rosewood and teak grown by farmers on the assigned land. Under the guise of this order, wood worth crores of rupees was smuggled from private and forest land. Poor farmers were given paltry amounts after being shown the government order by timber mafia.
The tree felling and smuggling of valuable wood came to light in March after an upright forest officer unearthed illegal felling in which 101 rosewood trees, some of them as old as 500 years old had been cut and smuggled. After this many other districts also reported similar cases and green activists claimed that trees worth ₹500 crore were plundered using a weird government order and they suspected a nexus between politicians, officials and the timber mafia. Later the government had constituted a SIT and the Union Environment Ministry also sought a report from the state on the matter.
