The Bombay High Court has directed the constitution of an ad hoc Tree Authority (TA) for the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) to decide on application by Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) seeking permission to fell 53 trees for laying third and fourth railway line between Kalyan and Badlapur.
The court expressed severe displeasure after being informed that the tree authority has been non functional since 2018. Due to absence of tree authority, the MRVC approached the high court seeking permission to fell the trees.
Under the Mumbai Urban Transport Projects (MUTP), MRVC has undertaken laying of extra lines between Kalyan and Badlapur, which at present has only two lines. The project, cost at around Rs 1553.87 crores, promises to transform rail operations in the region, ensuring enhanced connectivity and efficiency. The deadline for the project is December 2026.
MRVC’s advocate informed a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar that the high court, on July 8, 2018, had directed that till the tree authority is appointed, no permission shall be granted for felling of trees. Even after almost six years, the tree authority, as mandated under the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, has not been constituted, MRVC claimed. The municipal commissioner is the chairperson of the tree authority and has 5 to 15 expert members.
Further, there are no elected members in the UMC, hence the former municipal commissioner was appointed as an administrator in 2020 to oversee the functioning of the civic body. The commissioner was exercising powers as tree authority , who certainly cannot be considered as an expert, the court noted.
On a court query on why tree authority was not constituted, UMC’s advocate informed there are no elected members in the corporation as the State government has appointed an administrator and hence, as such the constitution of the authority is not possible. Further, the administrator is acting as the chairperson of the tree authority.
Moreover, the corporation could not find qualified experts to be nominated for the tree authority.
“On account of non-availability of elected members of the corporation, a peculiar situation has arisen where though… the administrator shall have all powers and perform duties of the tree authority, however, he cannot ascertain the number of expert members to be nominated as per rule,” the bench noted.
Considering the non-availability of experts, the HC said “the municipal corporation cannot be left with the tree authority being rendered non-functional”.
“The ad hoc tree authority shall function till the regulatory committee is constituted at a time when elected members of corporation are available,” the court said. It has also said that the ad hoc tree authority shall consider and take appropriate decision on MRVC’s application for felling trees expeditiously.
