Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): High Court, principal bench of Jabalpur, on Thursday directed that no tree in Bhopal shall be cut, pruned or transplanted in any manner without permission of the Court.
Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf ordered personal presence of PWD Executive Engineer, Under Secretary (Vidhan Sabha Secretariat), Administrative Officer-cum-Under Secretary (Vidhan Sabha Secretariat), Commissioner (Bhopal Municipal Corporation), Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Principal Secretary (Vidhan Sabha Secretariat) and General Manager (West Central Railways) for next hearing.
Court said that despite earlier directions under Madhya Pradesh Tree Protection (Urban) Act, 2001, not to fell or prune any tree without permission of 9-member committee or Tree Officer, attempts were underway to fell 244 trees for residential construction projects.
Advocate Harpreet Singh Gupta, representing intervenor Nitin Saxena, highlighted media reports of a new “shifting” method. Trees were being transplanted without permission, with all branches and leaves stripped and only the trunk replanted elsewhere, effectively amounting to felling. Photographs on record supported these claims.
