More trees will have to be cut for Aarey car depot since plants have become trees due to delay by litigation: MMRCL to Bombay High Court

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) on Thursday drew the attention of the Court to the problems arising due to the delay caused by the cases relating to construction of the car depot at Aarey. .The MMRCL said that due to such delays from litigation more trees might have to be cut for the construction of the car depot since many plants and saplings have now grown into trees during the pendency of the matter.Senior Advocate Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, appearing for MMRCL, informed the Court that when the application was filed, it was for felling of 84 trees, but with the passage of time, the land saw growth of more trees.“In a particular area at that time, there were 84 trees. So our application was for 84 trees. The purpose was to clean shave the land so that we can construct the metro car shed. This issue remained pending in Courts for four years thanks to the petitioner. During this period, four monsoon seasons have passed. So at that time, what were saplings did not fall under definition of trees, but they have grown naturally and have become trees. The Supreme Court order was to enable us to clean shave the land. We have not increased one inch and the intent was to allow us to work. On the contrary, this obstruction of the petitioner amounts to obstruction of implementation of the Supreme court order in its true form”, the lawyer informed.The statement was made during hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Zoru Bhathena challenging a notice issued by tree authority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for removing 177 trees at Aarey. The application claimed that the notice was based on an application of MMRCL which was filed after a Supreme Court order of November 2022, allowing the corporation to pursue its request for felling of 84 trees for the project..Advocate Zaman Ali, advocate for Bhathena, sought adjournment to take clarification on the additional shrubs and trees.“These are not shrubs but trees of 25 feet height. I take strong objection to this statement. This was not informed to the Supreme Court when the hearing took place. It should have been clarified”, Ali said..A division bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne granted time to Ali and posted the matter for further consideration after a week..Bhathena has challenged the notice issued by the Tree Authority claiming it is in violation of the order of the Supreme Court of November 2022 which allowed application to fell only 84 trees.He claimed that since the authority had refused to withdraw its notice, he had filed the present PIL.