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Sankaranarayanan submitted that there is an urgency in the matter, as more trees in the forest could be cut during the ensuing weekend to make way for the construction.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud will tomorrow hear the plea challenging the construction of a metro car shed at the Aarey forest area in Mumbai.
The matter was mentioned by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan before the bench today. He submitted, that there is an urgency in the matter, as more trees in the forest could be cut during the ensuing weekend to make way for the construction.
Upon hearing his submissions, the bench asked Sankaranarayanan if the matter could be listed next week. However, Sankaranarayanan informed the bench that some more damage could happen over the weekend. He informed the court that the government will operate more JCBs over the weekend and hence there is an urgency. Thus he urged the court to list the matter tomorrow.
The court, on hearing his submissions, agreed to list the plea tomorrow.
In October 2019, a law student, Rishav Ranjan, wrote to the then Chief Justice of India, seeking a stay of the cutting of trees for the MMRCL’s car shed located on 33 hectares land in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony.
The site is on the bank of the Mithi River, with several channels and tributaries flowing into it — and construction for the “polluting industry” could flood Mumbai, Ranjan argued.
The court accepted the letter as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and set up the special Bench.
The Supreme Court in 2019, directed the State of Maharashtra not to cut any further trees in Aarey and to maintain the status quo. Court had however clarified that there it had not stayed the construction of the metro car shed project, and the status quo pertained only to further felling of trees.
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