Bombay High Court orders stay on Ganeshkhind road tree felling; appoints expert committee

On 21^st December (Thursday), the Bombay High Court has ordered a stay on the tree felling at Ganeshkhind Road & has appointed a committee of experts having officers from PMC & PMRDA.

As per further information from the High Court order accessed by Pune Pulse,

About the tree felling, the petitioners argue that the Tree Authority has not taken into consideration the relevant factors about tree felling. One of the relevant factors to be taken into account, while considering an application for grant of permission to fell trees by the Tree Authority, is the kind of trees in respect of which such a permission is sought. In other words, the age, girth, species, general health and location of the trees are some of the relevant aspects which ought to weigh in the mind of the Tree Authority while considering giving permission to cut trees.

The order further says section 7(1)(b) of the Maharashtra Act of 1975 mandates that a census of the exiting trees has to be conducted once in 5 (five) years. The primary purpose of getting the census conducted on regular basis is to have a complete data base of the trees which can be used for various purposes. The kind of information, which can be gathered by conducting census of trees by using GIS based technology, can be used objectively by the Tree Authority while considering felling of the trees. In absence of such a GIS based census, the Tree Authority may not be in a position to arrive at a correct conclusion whether to grant permission to fell trees or not.

The petitioners argue that no such census has been undertaken by the PMC and hence, the PMC has not only failed to perform its statutory duties, but also deprived the Tree Authority of a significant data necessary for considering felling of trees.

Hence, some points to be considered are:

•   Alternatives have to be proposed on all roads to save trees.
•   Tree Census has to be taken into account by GPS data, tree photos etc.
•   IRC guidelines have to be followed on all roads as it is law.
•   ⁠Trees can’t be chopped indiscriminately – application of mind necessary.
•   ⁠Committee formed to study best available course of action for Ganeshkhind road.

The Bombay High Court has decided to grant a stay on the tree felling.

Regarding the expert committee, the High Court order further states that the expert committee shall comprise of:

• A higher-level expert working in the field of road construction at Central Road Research Institute (a CSIR Institute), New Delhi to be appointed by its Director
• Head of the Department of Environmental Engineering or any other related Department or any of the nominee of the Head of such Department of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai
• A nominee of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to be appointed by its Director
• Additional Municipal Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation
• Additional Commissioner, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA)
• An expert in Town Planning, Urban Planning and Urban Studies Department, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai to be nominated by its Director

The Additional Commissioner, PMC shall be the convener of the Committee and shall be responsible for convening the meetings of the Committee and for placing all the necessary documents and material before the Committee.

The Committee shall consider, study and recommend the best possible plan so that maximum number of trees can be saved on one hand and the road widening and Metro Rail project work is also executed.

The Committee shall complete its task as mentioned above as early as possible, preferably within a period of 2 (two) months. The report of the Committee shall be submitted to the Court through the learned counsel representing the Municipal Corporation by the next date of listing.

The entire expenses to be incurred to complete the above task shall be borne jointly by the PMC and the PMRDA.

Shreyas Vange