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Bombay High Court terms BMC's tree authority prima facie illegal, stops it from granting any further permissions

Concerned over its failure to appoint nominated members, the court stops the authority from granting any permit

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In a major blow to several ongoing development projects which need tree cutting permissions for more than 25 trees, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, prima facie held the Tree Authority, of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to be illegally constituted. It has restrained the authority from granting any more permissions.

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice M S Sonak in their order said, "Prima facie we are of the view that the provisions under the Tree Act, specifically makes provisions for the appointment of nominated members who are experts and have knowledge of horticulture, preservation and plantation. As far as this court is concerned, failure to appoint nominated members defeats the very object of the Act."

The decision would have an impact on the tree cutting at Aarey colony, where permission is sought to cut around 2,700 trees for constructing the Metro 3 railway crashed. The bench has though allowed the Municipal Commissioner to grant permission for tree cutting/pruning in case of an emergency situation.

The bench passed this interim order while hearing a petition filed by activist Zoru Bathena, challenging the constitution of the tree authority. In his petition it is said, Tree Authority cannot give permission to cut trees until it is formed according to the guidelines of the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act 1975, which must include independent experts.

In April while deciding a petition challenging the constitution of tree authority by Thane Municipal Corporation, the court had held that non-official members, with expertise in plantation and preservation of trees and belonging to different NGOs, should be appointed in the Tree Authority of municipal corporations. The number of such appointed experts in the Tree Authority should not exceed the number of corporators. The BMC's tree authority has 13 members, all of which are corporators.

Senior advocate Anil Sakhare, while opposing the petition had filed an affidavit denying that theTree Authority was illegally constituted and argued that the permission it has given for cutting trees for different projects or authorities was legal.

MAJOR BLOW TO INFRA PROJECTS?

Bench has allowed civic chief to grant permission for tree cutting/pruning in case of an emergency

2,700 Trees for constructing the Metro 3 railway carshed

21 The number of days in which Tree Authority is supposed to meet

GREEN MOVE?

  • On an average, 800 to 1,000 tree cutting and transplantation proposals  are discussed in every meeting of the Tree Authority
     
  • From February 2017 BMC hasn’t appointed tree expert in this committee
     
  • The real estate and infrastructure projects are to be impacted after the High Court restrained the Tree Authority from granting any more permits
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