Neighbouring cities like Thane, Pune, Nashik, and Nagpur have also been plagued by the same situation in the past years.
Recently, the Bombay High Court held that the Tree Authority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is illegally constituted and restrained it from granting any more permissions.
However, Mumbai is not the only city that was dealt such a blow. Neighbouring cities like Thane, Pune, Nashik, and Nagpur have also been plagued by the same situation in the past years.
According to the Tree Act, 1975, only the Tree Authority can give permission to cut trees for development projects. The commissioner can give permission to cut trees if less than 25 trees are in question. But for maximum projects in Mumbai and neighbouring cities, the Tree Authority's permission is essential.
"Thane and Pune also faced a similar issue. Even they didn't appoint a tree expert prompting the High Court to hold the respective Tree Authorities illegal," said Abhijeet Chawan, former Mumbai Tree Authority member.
The Social Forestry Department works in rural areas, so they don't have access to any city NGO. This gives rise to a technical issue, as most municipal corporations are located in city limits.
In November 2017, the High Court had stated that the then- Pune Tree Authority was not constituted properly with qualified members and independent experts. In April 2008, the court had held that non-official members, with expertise in plantation and preservation of trees and belonging to different NGOs, should be appointed to the Thane Tree Authority.
Even Nashik and Nagpur had the same problem. They also did not stick to the rules, said Zoru Bathena, who challenged the constitution of the Tree Authority in the High Court. "If we appoint genuine botanist and tree experts, the situation will change. There are political misinterpretations, but we have to fight against it," he said.
ISSUE AT HAND
- The Social Forestry Department works in rural areas, so they don’t have access to any city NGO. This gives rise to a technical issue, as most municipal corporations are located in city limits.
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