Bombay high court raps MMRC over tree-cutting permission

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation on Wednesday failed to produce permissions for tree cutting in Aarey Milk Colony in the Bombay high court. The high court directed the MMRC to file a detailed affidavit along with permissions, failing which a blanket stay may be ordered.

A petition by leaders of Aam Aadmi Party, Ruben Mascarenhas and Preeti Sharma Menon against the alleged indiscriminate cutting of more than 160 trees in Aarey Milk Colony was being heard before a division bench of acting Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Girish Kulkarni. The acting Chief Justice warned the MMRC to file an affidavit detailing permissions, compliance of due process till October 11, otherwise a blanket ban on felling of trees will be directed.

While the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation claimed that they had to file the affidavit within two weeks, the acting Chief Justice highlighted that the MMRC was given seven days to file the affidavit earlier. Counsel for the petitioner, Rakesh Singh also argued that there should be proper clarity about the permissions recei-ved by the MMRC as the public hearing for cutting of another 2,702 trees was scheduled on Wednesday.