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Synopsis

The Supreme Court of India today questioned the state of Maharashtra whether there was a proposal to fell any more trees in the Aarey Forest area.

A bench led by Justices Abhay S. Oka and A.G. Masih has thus ordered, "We direct the parties to complete the pleadings by the second week of February. To enable the counsel for the state of Maharashtra to make a statement regarding further tree cutting, the petition shall be listed for January 10."

At the outset, Justice Oka remarked: "This is the challenge to the judgment of the High Court? We have to hear it now… There are separate petitions. Is there any proposal to cut more trees?"

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that everyone involved has the public interest in mind. In response, Justice Oka said, "Not just public interest, but the interest of the environment. Thousands of trees must have already been cut."

In April last year, the Supreme Court had imposed a cost of INR 10 lacs on Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited's (MMRCL) for removing an excess of 84 trees, in contravention of an earlier order of the top court. However, the Court had allowed the authority to also remove 177 more so that the public project does not come to a standstill.

On 12 April 2023, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had submitted before the Supreme Court that the petitioner before it, opposing the said application should be asked to compensate the public exchequer for the delay caused to the government's projects.

The bench was hearing a matter in which, suo-moto cognizance had been taken by the court on a letter written by a law student, Rishav Ranjan, to the then Chief Justice of India, seeking a stay on the cutting of trees for the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited's car shed located on 33 hectares land in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony.

The letter written by the law student had stated, "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". The court had accepted the letter as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and set up the special Bench.

The Supreme Court in 2019, had directed the State of Maharashtra not to cut any further trees in Aarey and to maintain the status quo. The 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 the further felling of trees.

Case Title: IN RE FELLING OF TREES IN AAREY FOREST