LUCKNOW, Jan. 7 -- Taking a strong note of not complying with its earlier order, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed the additional chief secretary/principal secretary (forest) UP, principal secretary (horticulture), principal chief conservator of forests and the divisional forest officer, Lucknow, to appear before it in person on January 13 in the matter of geo-tagging and felling of trees in the mango belt area here. The court also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the state authorities. The order was passed by a division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary on January 5 in response to a PIL filed in 2013 by a local lawyer JS Tomar seeking directives for geo-tagging and check on felling trees in the mango belt area here. Earlier, the court had sought a reply from state authorities in the matter. When no response was filed on November 12, 2025, the court had imposed Rs 15,000 cost on the state authorities for the same and again directed them to file a reply. On January 5, 2026, the state counsel informed the court that she had no instructions as to whether the cost had been deposited or not. She also said she had not received any instructions nor any affidavit had been filed by the state authorities after the court's earlier order. "This is the apathy shown by the State authorities after such a stringent order being passed on 12.11.2025 as quoted herein-above. No other option is left with us but to summon all the State authorities who are impleaded herein, as, it appears that, in such an important matter involving public interest, they are not only not co-operating but their conduct displays certain intransigence which needs to be addressed," the court observed. "Let the Additional Chief Secretary/ Principal Secretary, Forest, Government of U.P., Lucknow ( respondent no.2), as the case may be, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, U.P., Lucknow (respondent no.5) and the Divisional Forest Officer, Lucknow, who are said to be the authorities required to assist the Court in the light of the observations made by this Court in its orders dated 13.01.2014 and 12.11.2025, appear before this Court in person on January 13, 2026 at 10.15 am," the court said. "For their non-cooperation in the proceedings and failure to comply our order and file required affidavits we impose a further cost of Rs.25,000/-, especially as none of the affidavits filed by the State authorities after 03.01.2014 addresses the query of the Court regarding Geo tagging," the court ordered....