KBR petitioners deny making any complaint to CEC

Petitioners to the Supreme Court on the Eco Sensitive Zone of the KBR National Park, through a statement, clarified that they did not make any complaint about tree felling near the park, as understood from the recent visit by the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee members to the site.

Rather, the visit was the result of an email communication on June 15, 2026, addressed by the petitioners to the Commissioner, GHMC, the PCCF (HoFF), the District Collector, Hyderabad and the District Forest Officer Hyderabad Division requesting for information as to the reasons for the felling of one tree in the ESZ, the permissions obtained, the agency responsible, and whether any prior inspection was carried out. The CEC was one of several authorities merely copied on that communication, the statement said.

The CEC member Anjan Mohanty reportedly acknowledged the same during his interaction with the petitioners on Sunday (July 26, 2026). The programme of the CEC was circulated to the Chief Secretary, the PCCF, the District Magistrate, the Divisional Forest Officer and the Field Director, KBR National Park, but the petitioners were not on the distribution list, and no notice of the programme was served on them, the statement said.

The petitioners received an invitation through overnight notice for a meeting on Sunday (July 26, 2026), with no agenda, whether formal or informal, served on the petitioners at any stage. No meeting was fixed on Monday (July 27, 2026), as mentioned in the news reports, they said.

Owing to the suddenness of the invitation and the absence of any formal notice, only one of the three petitioners was able to attend the meeting in the presence of GHMC and Forest Department officials. The petitioner was expressly informed that every issue arising in the special leave petition was excluded from the scope of the meeting. The deliberations were confined to a single tree that was felled in the ESZ.