Indore News: High Court Halts Tree Cutting In Indore After State Fails To Appoint ‘Tree Officer’

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued fresh directions prohibiting the felling of trees across Indore city, pulling up the State Government for failing to comply with its earlier orders regarding the appointment of statutory tree officer under the MP Tree Protection Act.

In an order passed on Monday, a division bench comprising Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Alok Awasthi directed that "trees will not be cut in the town on the basis of permission granted by the 'tree officer' appointed by the collector," emphasizing that only the State Government possesses the authority to make such appointments under Section 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Vrikshon Ka Parirakshan (Nagariya Kshetra) Adhiniyam, 2001.

The ruling comes in the ongoing writ petition filed by Dr Aman Sharma through his lawyer Abhinav Dhanodkar.

The petitioner had specifically contested the dual role played by the commissioner of Indore Municipal Corporation, who despite being the implementing authority for development projects was also acting as the "tree officer" authorised to grant permissions for tree felling.

Conflict of interest

The court had previously on December 18, 2024, acknowledged merit in the petitioner's contention that the commissioner could not legally "act as a 'tree officer' to grant permission for cutting the trees to itself," particularly regarding development works at Malhar Ashram and MOG Lines. The bench had then directed the state government to immediately notify a forest officer of at least Gazetted rank as tree officer and explicitly prohibited any tree cutting until the proper appointment was made.

Collector oversteps authority

Despite the December 2024 directive, the state government failed to act. Instead, the Indore collector issued orders on April 25, 2025 and June 2, 2025, purporting to appoint a forest officer as tree officer, a move the petitioner challenged as being "contrary to the provision of section 4 of the Act itself" and beyond the collector's jurisdiction.

Counsel for the respondents failed to produce any legal provision empowering the collector to make such appointments.

The court has now stayed all tree cutting activities based on permissions granted by the collector-appointed officers, effectively putting a brake on urban development projects until the State Government follows proper procedure.

The matter has been listed for hearing on February 16.