The Supreme Court on Thursday told the Telangana government that it can choose to either restore the trees it felled in the Kancha Gachibowli forest area near the University of Hyderabad campus or have it officers sent to jail, The Indian Express reported.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih also said that the felling of the trees prima facie appeared to be “pre-planned”.

The matter pertains to the 400-acre land in the Kancha Gachibowli forest area, which is home to several species of flora and fauna. The Congress government in Telangana had proposed to auction the land for the development of IT parks. However, several groups had protested the decision.

On March 30, bulldozers began clearing trees and other vegetation in a 100-acre area near the University of Hyderabad campus. Clashes broke out between the university students and the police during the protests against the felling of trees.

On April 3, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and ordered a stop to all the tree-felling activities in the area.

It had directed the state’s chief secretary to file an affidavit explaining the “compelling urgency to undertake the developmental activities including the removal of trees from the alleged forest area”.

The state government was also told to clarify if environmental impact assessment certification and other necessary permissions for the development activities had been sought from the forest department. The court asked for information about what the state planned to do with the felled trees.

It also sought a reply from the state government on the spot inspection report conducted by a court-appointed Central Empowered Committee.

On April 16, the court directed the state government to develop a plan to restore the 100 acres of land.

During the hearing on Thursday, advocate AM Singhvi, representing the state government, told the bench that no further deforestation was being carried out in the area.

“Everything has stopped, nothing is happening there,” Live Law quoted him as saying.

Advocate K Parameshwar, appearing as an amicus curiae in the matter, told the bench that the state government, in its reply, had only defended its stand and proposed to undertake the IT construction at the site without offering a restoration plan.

In response, Gavai said: “If you want the chief secretary and half a dozen officers to shift to a temporary prison we can do that...We are always advocates of sustainable development. The question here is felling of 1,000 trees, taking wrong advantage of the long vacation [used for deforestation].”

The court then listed the matter for further hearing on July 23.

Also read: Telangana’s plan for ‘world’s largest eco-park’ at Kancha Gachibowli will be just as devastating