MP High Court Disposes Tree-Felling Pleas, Directs Petitioners To Plant Fruit Trees Themselves

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has disposed of two long-pending writ petitions seeking a statewide ban on tree felling, holding that a 2015 notification permitting such cutting already stands struck down, while directing the petitioners to plant fruit-bearing trees themselves if they wish to keep the larger environmental cause alive.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal was hearing Writ Petition No. 26802 of 2018, filed by one Anand, and Writ Petition No. 13864 of 2019, filed by Vivek Kumar Sharma, both against the State of Madhya Pradesh and others. The petitions had sought a mandamus to stop the cutting of trees, protection of green cover, punitive action against those cutting trees illegally, and quashing of a notification dated September 24, 2015, on the ground that it was "causing great harm to the ecological balance."

Dr. Anuvad Shrivastava appeared for petitioner Anand, while Shri Anshuman Singh represented petitioner Vivek Kumar Sharma. Dr. S.S. Chouhan appeared as Government Advocate for the State, and Shri Piyush Bhatnagar represented the Union of India.

The bench noted that the challenge to the 2015 notification had effectively already been decided. A Full Bench of the same court, hearing the very same two petitions, had on March 1, 2025, struck down the notification. "So far notification dated 24.09.2015 is concerned, the Full Bench of this Court... has struck down the said notification," the order recorded.

What remained before the division bench was an additional relief raised in Vivek Kumar Sharma's petition, concerning the cutting and felling of trees for widening roads across Madhya Pradesh. The petitioner had contended that trees were steadily being cut for road widening and construction of new highways without any corresponding plantation drive to compensate for the loss.

The court observed that the petition had been filed in 2019, and that "much development has taken place" in the intervening years, with several new highways constructed and widened. However, it found no material on record indicating how many trees had actually been felled for such projects, or how many had been planted in return. "There is no data that how many trees were cut for such purpose and how many trees plantation have been done till date," the bench noted.

In view of this absence of data, the court disposed of both petitions, but left the door open for the cause to be revived. It directed that "if the petitioners are stilling willing to raise similar cause, they may collect data and approach this Court again." In other words, the petitioners have not been shut out entirely, they may return to court, but only after gathering concrete figures on tree felling and compensatory plantation to back their claims.

The bench also imposed an interim obligation on the petitioners themselves. "The petitioners are also directed to plant 25-25 fruit bearing trees in their respective area marked by the Municipal Corporation and submit a report," the order stated, adding that since the underlying reference on the notification had already been "answered in favour of the petitioner," that outcome be implemented.

With these directions, the court disposed of both petitions, closing a legal battle over the 2015 notification that had run for nearly eight years, while leaving the road-widening plantation question open for a future, better-evidenced round of litigation.

Case Title: Anand v. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others with connected matter

Date of Order: August 13, 2026

Bench: Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal