India, April 11 -- New Delhi

Delhi's forest and wildlife department on Thursday issued notices to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and the National Institute of Immunology (NII) after it received a complaint that trees were illegally felled at a parcel of land in Dwarka Sector 5. They said the land parcel in question belongs to NII, with CPWD carrying out work in the area.

For any agency to fell trees in the Capital, it needs to take permission from the forest department under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act (DPTA), 1994. However, officials said an estimated 100 trees were felled at the Dwarka site, but no permission was sought or granted to fell even a single tree.

The forest department was acting on a complaint filed by...