SC to hear Mumbai's Aarey Colony tree felling matter on Nov 24

The Supreme Court said that it will hear on Thursday the matter pertaining to the felling of trees at Mumbai's Aarey Colony, the site for a metro car shed project.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices Hima Kohli and J B Pardiwala took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) that there was a need to fell 84 trees.

The law officer said let the tree felling committee decide on the request of MMRCL on cutting of the tree and the decision would be dependent on the order of this court.

We will deal with these two IAs (interim applications) tomorrow, the bench said. The MMRCL had on August 5 this year told the apex court that no trees have been cut in Aarey colony since October 2019.

On August 24, the top court had directed the MMRCL to strictly abide by its undertaking that no trees will be cut there and warned that any violation would result in strict action. The counsel had said the work for the metro car shed is continuing, and as a result, the court may be presented with a fate accompli.

The Bombay High Court in October 2019 refused to declare Aarey Colony a forest and declined to quash the Mumbai municipal corporation’s decision to allow felling of over 2,600 trees in the green zone to set up the metro car shed.