Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday pulled up the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for dragging its feet in constituting a new tree authority (TA). The HC has granted the BMC time untill Monday, to decide on the 36 applications it has received from people seeking to be part of the TA, which is authorised to deal with applications seeking to cut or fell trees for some or the other public utility work..
This comes after the bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Nitin Jamdar was informed of several construction works coming to a standstill due of the absence of the TA. The bench was seized with an application filed by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) seeking permission to fell trees in the Aarey Colony.
The MMRCL has proposed to construct a carshed at Aarey Colony for its controversial Metro III line (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ) and wants to cut trees at the site. But since the TA has been dysfunctional from last year, the MMRCL is unable to start with its car shed work
The TA was dismantled last year, by a bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka, after noting the gross violations committed by the BMC in forming the authority. Since then, there is no TA, as the civic body had not taken any progressive steps to reconstitute a new one, until the last hearing.
Notably, the bench of Justice Oka had in its orders, clearly said no tree could be cut or felled without the leave of the TA. These orders were passed while hearing a plea filed by activist Zoru Bhathena highlighting the illegal manner, in which the erstwhile TA was constituted.
When the matter was called out for hearing on Thursday, the counsel appearing for the BMC informed the bench led by CJ Patil, that the civic body has not yet reconstituted the TA and would require some additional time. He further informed that pursuant to earlier orders, the BMC had invited applications from persons willing to be a member of the new TA and have received a total of 36 applications.
Irked over the submissions, CJ Patil said, “How long does it take to go through these 36 applications?” “Why are you delaying? You must bear in mind that because of you, some important construction work is being delayed. You must instead work day in and day out to ensure the TA is made functional,” the CJ remarked.
The bench accordingly, directed the BMC to decide on these 36 applications and constitute the new TA by Monday. Meanwhile, the bench sought the reply of the civic body in response to a plea filed by a Dahisar resident challenging the decision of the BMC to cut down trees near his residence, for some road widening work.
