Thane civic body asked to form tree committee

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to appoint a qualified person to the post of tree officer and also constitute the tree committee within a month and file a compliance report on the same. The court held that the appointments should not be encumbered with any problems and officials should be able to start working as soon as appointed.

Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has filed an affidavit informing the court that the civic corporation had permitted its tree department and private individuals to trim and prune
trees that had overgrown branches as they posed a severe threat to the people during the monsoons. The petitioner had sought directions to the BMC to desist from the same.

A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Riyaz Chagla was hearing public interest litigations filed by various NGOs against the cutting of trees and implementation of the Protection of Trees Act, 1975 in Mumbai and Thane.

After hearing the petitioners from Thane who had alleged that the tree committee had not been constituted as per norms the court had ordered the committee to be dissolved. On Tuesday, after the Thane Municipal Corporation submitted that a resolution had been passed to form the new committee the court directed the TMC to do so within a month and also appoint a tree officer.

According to the petitioner from Mumbai, Zoru Bathena, despite the stay on tree cutting the BMC had allowed trimming and pruning of trees by individuals and agencies and hence sought a restraint against it.