Contempt petition against Union T'port Secy, NHAI chairman

: A contempt petition for allegedly not planting trees as per the June 6 2014 orders of the Madras High court bench has been filed against the Union Secretary for Transport and Highway and the Chairman of National Highway Authority of India.
A division bench, comprising Justices S Tamilvanan and V S Ravi, ordered a notice to Vijay Chibber and R P Singh and sought their replies by February 17.
S M Anantha Murugan, a PIL litigant and an advocate, submitted that NHAI had cut 1,78,000 trees on National Highway 7 (Varanasi-Kanyakumari). They ought to have planted 5,34,000 as per the assurance given by them in the court but had not done so.

However, they were collecting Rs two per km for light vehicles and Rs four per km for heavy vehicles. The toll should be used for maintaining the road and developing trees along it. Similarly on NH-68, going through Salem, they should plant 7216 trees.
The petitioner said that the court, following the Supreme Court order, had directed highways officials to plant trees in the ratio of 1:10 within six months but they had not done so.
Hence he prayed for a direction to punish the officials for "willful disobedience" of its order.