The Supreme Court, making an urgent intervention into the Aarey colony deforestation row, asked the government to not cut any more trees in the area until the matter is heard in further detail. A Supreme Court Green Bench will hear the matter next on 21 October.
"Don't cut any more trees now. It appears to us that it was some kind of forest at some time," the Supreme Court said, in essence ordering a status quo by halting the felling of trees which was in progress since late hours of Friday night after Bombay High Court refused to declare the area a forest.
The court said this after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Maharashtra government, offered to undertake no more cutting of trees until the apex court heard the matter in detail.
The Supreme Court also sought a report from the Maharashtra government on compulsory afforestation efforts taken by it and the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC).
"Tell us how many saplings you planted. How have they grown? What's the status of your forests?," the Supreme Court told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who was appearing for the state government and other authorities. It noted that planting a sapling in place of a full-grown tree was not the same thing in terms of environmental costs and also maintenance of the newly planted shoot was also a matter of concern.
"Planting saplings is a separate thing, looking after them is a separate thing," Justice Arun Mishra said.
The hearing was held especially to intervene in the matter urgently as the activists accused Maharashtra government of clandestinely chopping off trees in the dead of the night, just hours after Bombay High Court's judgment so as not to give citizens the time to appeal. The Supreme Court is presently on a Dussehra break.
The apex court decided on Sunday to register as public interest litigation a letter addressed to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi by a law student Rishav Ranjan seeking a stay on the cutting of trees.
File image of the Supreme Court of India. Reuters
The letter sent to the CJI by Ranjan on behalf a student delegation on Sunday comes two days after the Bombay High Court 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 a metro car shed.
The letter states, "As we write this letter to you the Mumbai authorities continue to kill the lungs of Mumbai i.e Aarey forest by clearing of trees near Mithi river bank and according to news reports 1,500 trees have already been cleared by the authorities.
"Not only this but our friends are put in jail who were peacefully organising a vigil against the acts of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) with Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) at the site."
The students in their letter have requested the Supreme Court "to exercise its epistolary jurisdiction to protect Aarey without getting into technicalities as there was no time for preparation of a proper appeal petition and cover the scars of these young activists who are responsible citizens standing for serious environmental concerns".
It also said that the students have moved the apex court as the Bombay High Court rejected the bail plea of 29 activists who had participated in the "peaceful vigil" against the tree-felling and have been detained by Mumbai police.
The letter has alleged that the student-activists were abused and manhandled by the Mumbai Police which had booked them for the offences of 'assault on a public servant to deter him from discharging his duty' and 'unlawful assembly' under the IPC. The activists were released Monday morning, hours ahead of the hearing.
According to the letter, Aarey forest is located adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and has five lakh trees. The police on Saturday imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the area, restricting movements and gathering of groups, and cordoned off the area. The prohibitory restrictions too were lifted on Monday morning.
The trees were proposed to be cut for Mumbai metro-3 project and specifically for the construction of a car shed, it said and added that the high court refused to recognise Aarey as a forest or declare it as an ecological sensitive issue because of jurisdictional limits.
Earlier, Opposition parties slammed the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena, stating they failed to save the trees. Yuva Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray also criticised the MMRCL and backed the protesters. Some local tribals also opposed the tree cutting, claiming they were largely dependent on the Aarey forest for their livelihood.
The MMRCL has defended tree felling by contending that it is restricted only to a small area in Aarey Colony, and is necessary to ensure a modern transport system for Mumbaikars. The proposed car shed for the Metro-3 line (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) will occupy 33 hectares.
Meanwhile, the police re-imposed Section 144 within the three-kilometre radius of Aarey site, after it was briefly lifted on Monday morning.
from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2APLGmE
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