The decision was made after MMRCL requested permission to cut 185 trees rather than the 84 that had previously been authorized by the bench.
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) was severely reprimanded by the Supreme Court on Monday for attempting to cut down more than the authorized 84 trees in Aarey Forest for the Mumbai Metro Rail project [In Re: Felling of Trees at Aarey Forest].
MMRCL was ordered to deposit 10 lakh with the Chief Conservator of Forests by a bench consisting of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha, and JB Pardiwala after determining that it was necessary to punish the company for its actions. The Chief Conservator of Forests will receive a deposit from MMRCL of 10 lakhs, and the conservator is responsible for seeing that all afforestation as ordered is completed. The conservator must make sure that the court’s instructions regarding tree planting are followed, the court ruled.
The decision was made after MMRCL requested permission to cut 185 trees rather than the 84 that had previously been authorized by the bench.
The bench was incensed that 177 trees could be cut down despite the top court’s order, despite the superintendent of gardens and trees officer’s permission.
“You people believe that you can take the Supreme Court for granted. You cannot overreach the court. Additionally, a MMRCL officer needs to be jailed. The CJI stated, “Ask MMRCL CEO to appear in court. The MMRCL and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were both found to be in contempt of court, the court further stated. Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General (SG), said during the hearing that although there was a gap in the authorities’ explanation, it was genuine and there was no plan to overrule the court. The SG requested that the court rethink its suggestion of a monetary fine.
Although there is a gap and we should have appeared before this court, there was no attempt to abuse the court’s jurisdiction. I kindly request that this finding not be made public. Instead of a monetary fine, 3,000 trees could be planted as part of reforestation efforts, he said.
Gopal Sankarnarayanan, a senior attorney, claimed that the court had been the victim of outright fraud. Senior Advocate CU Singh continued, “I am appearing for Van Shakti. What is happening here is incremental. It is based on complete falsehood. They claimed earlier that there had been no survey, so they had no idea how many trees.
The Aarey area, one of Mumbai’s major green lungs, is where a suo motu petition objecting to the construction of a metro car shed as part of the Mumbai Metro Rail project was being heard by the court.
The State of Maharashtra was told on October 7, 2019, not to remove any more trees from Aarey and to keep things as they are.
However, the court allowed the MMRCL to proceed with its February 2019 application for permission to cut down 84 trees in November 2022 on the grounds that this was necessary for a shunting site/ramp, without which the overall metro project would not matter.
However, the MMRCL was used to cut down 185 trees.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition was filed in the Bombay High Court after the superintendent of gardens and trees officer authorized the removal of 177 trees and the transplantation of 53 trees with the proviso that 1,533 additional trees would be planted.
The High Court ordered that no tree be cut down until a court clarification was requested after taking note of the top court’s order regarding 84 trees.
The current application was then used to bring the case before the Supreme Court.
.Written By- Tushar Vashisth students of 3rd year BBA LLB at Chandigarh University
