The Supreme Court on Wednesday told the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) to extend its previous undertaking on no felling of trees for the construction of Aarey Metro Shed, till August 30.
The direction was given by a Bench comprising Justice U.U. Lalit, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, which also granted the state government two more days as the last opportunity to place on record the additional documents in the case.
Appearing for Mahrashtra government, Advocate Chitnis contended that there were 29 additional documents, for which, he needed time to collate. the Court gave him time till August 26.
Advocate Rukmini Bobde, representing MMCL, contended that it has already filed an affidavit that no tree has been cut after the Court’s order of October 7, 2019 and will not be cut in any manner till further orders.
The Court ruled that the undertaking given by Mr. Charudas, Director of MMRCL, has been taken on record already and that MMRCL needs to be ‘strictly’ bound by the undertaking.
Representing the petitioners, Senior Advocate Anitha Shenoy alleged that despite the SC order, MMRCL was continuing with the “levelling” work.
She sought an order from the Court that no development work be undertaken by MMRCL, after which the Court directed the Corporation to abide by its previous undertaking. The Counsel for MMRC assured the Court that no trees will be cut till the next hearing (August 30).
The Bench further said that it was a matter of a few days and that if MMRCL violated the undertaking, the Court will take a serious view.
On its previous hearing, the Apex Court had noted the statement made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that MMRCL did not cut any tree after the Court’s order of October 7, 2019 and the status quo will be maintained till the next hearing, which is today.
The Court had directed the parties to file a convenience compilation.
The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the issue on October 7, 2019 on the basis of a letter petition by law student Rishabh Ranjan against cutting of trees for the construction of a Metro Shed in Aarey Forest Area, Mumbai.
The cutting of trees in Aarey Forest had led to protests by environmental activists and residents of the area. Earlier, a Bench comprising Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Ashok Bhushan had ordered that a “status quo be maintained with respect to cutting of trees”.
In August 2019, Mumbai Civic Body Tree Authorities had approved a proposal to cut 2,185 trees from Aarey for construction. A series of pleas were filed in the Bombay High Court, but they were all dismissed. In the meanwhile, MMRCL had started cutting the trees.
Case Title: In Re Felling Of Trees In Aarey Forest (Maharashtra) SMW (C) No (s). 2/ 2019