Muttil tree smuggling: Setback for UDF government as HC stays auction of timber

In what is widely seen as a case of official neglect, the High Court has clamped a temporary stay of all proceedings related to the auction of timber confiscated as part of the Muttil tree smuggling case.

"There will be an interim stay of all further proceedings pursuant to the confiscation orders. It is made clear that the respondent (the Forest Department) shall not proceed with the auctioning of the confiscated wood until the revision petition is decided," the single-judge bench ruled on June 22.

In the middle of May, following an order of Sulthan Bathery Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police department had begun counting the rosewood timber seized in connection with the Muttil tree felling case. The Court had then dismissed the plea filed by the accused claiming ownership of the seized timber. The court ruled that the timber belonged to the State Government.

According to the SIT's voluminous 84,600-page charge sheet, a total of 204.635 cubic metres of rosewood, worth ₹8 crore, was allegedly cut and smuggled out by the accused during November and December 2020 and January 2021.

The latest HC verdict is considered a telling example of the Forest Department sabotaging its own meticulous investigation into the timber smuggling.

Top sources in the Department said that the Wayanad DFO had failed to provide instructions on the case to the government pleaders even after repeated reminders. "The result was that the state's version was not heard in the case," a top Forest Department official said.

The accused had argued that the timber was confiscated from their property. The Forest Department's case was that the rosewood timber that were cut stood on reserved forest land.

The accused, Roji Augustine and Anto Augustine, had used a controversial Revenue Department circular of October 24, 2020, to cut down rosewood trees that the Forest Department said was government property.

The vaguely worded circular, issued by then revenue principal secretary and the incumbent chief secretary A Jayathilak, had given the impression that even reserved trees, except sandal, could be cut. It set in motion what was then called an "epidemic of tree cutting" and prompted the Revenue Department to withdraw the circular three months later on February 2, 2021. By then the accused had allegedly brought down a forest of rosewood trees. The SIT, which conducted dendrochronology or tree-ring dating to estimate the age of the felled trees, had concluded that some of these smuggled timber were of trees at least 500 years old.

On February 3, Roji stealthily moved his first batch of illegally cut timber, 54 rosewood logs, from Wayanad to a saw mill in Ernakulam using allegedly fabricated documents. The saw mill, finding the consignment suspicious, notified the authorities. On February 8, a team of forest officials led by Meppady range forest officer Sameer M K confiscated the timber.