Supreme Court Agrees To Hear The Plea Regarding Felling Of Trees In Aarey Forest, Mumbai

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice D. Y. Chandrachud agreed to hear the matter regarding the felling of trees in Aarey Forest in Mumbai for the construction of a Metro Shed.

Senior Advocate Gopal Shankarnarayanan mentioned the matter before the bench of Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and Justice Surya Kant who agreed to hear the matter tomorrow.

Senior Advocate Shankarnarayanan submitted to the Court that despite an order of stay being given by this Court in 2019 felling of trees is going on and they are using JCB to uproot the trees.

The Supreme Court had suo moto taken up the issue on 7th October 2019 on the basis of a letter petition sent in by law student Rishabh Ranjan against the cutting of trees for the construction of Metro Shed. The cutting of the trees in the Aarey Forest had led to protests by environmental activists and city residents.

Earlier, the Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Ashok Bhushan in its order dated 7th October 2019 said that a "status quo be maintained with respect to cutting of trees."

The controversy was initiated when the then Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan gave a proposal of building a facility for washing and maintaining Metro coaches. This proposal faced a massive backlash from environmentalists and citizens. The Bombay High Court was approached by a local NGO Vanashakti. The High Court constituted a technical committee to look into the impact of the project on the environment and the committee recommended the relocation of the project.

In August 2019 Mumbai Civic Body Tree Authorities approved a proposal to cut 2,185 trees from Aarey for construction. A series of pleas were filed in Bombay High Court but they were all dismissed. In the meanwhile, MMRCL began cutting down trees.