Won't cut trees without permit: Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation to Bombay High Court

Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that it would not cut any trees inside Aarey Colony without due permissions.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Girish Kulkarni asked the authority executing the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro 3 rail corridor project to file a detailed affidavit in two weeks.

The direction came during the hearing of a petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party leader Preeti Sharma Menon and Ruben Mascarenhas. Their advocate, Rakesh Singh, argued in the court that MMRCL is indiscriminately felling trees in the forested area for its car shed, even though it doesn't have civic tree authority's permission yet. A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for October 10.

Singh claimed that without waiting for the civic authority's go-ahead, MMRCL has begun hacking trees which are en route to the proposed Metro yard in the forested locality.

MMRC's lawyer Kiran Bagalia said trees weren't being cut without permissions, and if they are to be cut, it would only be after securing due permissions from the authorities concerned.

The court put her statement on record and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.