Reply about Tree Authority decision in 5 days, HC tells BMC

The plea cites minutes of meetings and claims that the decision was taken without considering objections from thousands of citizens

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday gave the BMC five days to reply to a petition filed against the Tree Authority decision to remove 2,646 trees from Aarey Colony for the Metro III carshed.

The court did not grant a stay as the BMC admitted that, though the decision has been taken, permission was yet to be granted to cut trees. The next hearing will be on September 17. The Tree Authority had approved the proposal on August 29, following which environmentalist Zoru Bathena filed the petition.

The plea cites minutes of meetings and claims that the decision was taken without considering objections from thousands of citizens. The petition argued that the resolution was passed without written inputs from all the tree experts and failed to record reasons for differences in the panel.

The civic body pointed out that under the Tree Act, there is a provision under which anyone can appeal against the decision within 15 days. The copy of the order is not yet uploaded on the BMC website and the BMC has given assurance in the court that trees will not be cut till further decision.

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