The National Green Tribunal (NGT), headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, was shocked on May 30 after every affidavit, filed by hotels in Kasauli, in the Solan district of Himachal Pradesh, said that none had cut down even a single tree during construction. Interestingly, the constructions had been carried out on the hills known for its forest

Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing on behalf of all the hotels, asked the bench to hear them with compassion. The bench assured Khurshid that it will hear him and seriously try to fathom the wonder in which a consent for a three-storey building on paper becomes an 11-storey building on land.

Matter adjourned for May 31.

— India Legal Bureau