New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday modified its order to maintain the status quo about tree felling in Mumbai’s Aarey colony, permitting the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) to approach the relevant authority to cut down 84 trees for the metro car shed project.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha took note of the submissions of solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for MMRCL, that the felling of 84 trees was needed for constructing ramps for the trains at the car shed.
“The MMRCL should be permitted to pursue its application with the Tree Authority for felling 84 trees,” the bench said and fixed the main pleas against the Metro project for a final hearing in February next year.
Also Read: Ten Things to Know About Aarey and the Protests Surrounding It
Earlier, the apex court had in 2019 taken suo motu cognisance of a letter petition addressed to the CJI by law student Rishav Ranjan seeking a stay on the felling of trees in the colony.
The apex court had restrained the authorities from felling any more trees after the solicitor general submitted on behalf of the State of Maharashtra that no further trees will be cut.
The felling of trees in the colony has been opposed by environmentalists and residents.
When the triparty Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance led by Uddhav Thackeray came to power, the government relocated the metro car shed to Kanjurmarg. But after the government fell due to a rebellion by Eknath Shinde in June this year, the first administrative decision it took was to reverse the decision, moving the shed back to Aarey.
Chander Uday Singh, the lawyer appearing for parties who oppose the felling of trees, submitted that after the Shinde government’s decision to resume the work at Aarey was “taken without a cabinet” by the chief minister and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
According to LiveLaw, the lawyer argued that the decision to relocate the project to Kanjurmarg was taken on the basis of expert committee reports, unlike the reversal by the Shinde government.
However, the top court said that the Maharashtra government’s fresh decision to revert to Aarey as the location of the car shed from Kanjurmarg was “based on relevant considerations” and “it would be impossible for this court to stay the decision at the interim stage”.
It observed that the Bombay high court had upheld the felling of trees and also the decision to locate the metro car shed in Aarey. The bench also noted that the Supreme Court had earlier declined interim relief against the project, according to LiveLaw.
Bench disagrees that metro will lead to decongestion
The top court disagreed with Mehta’s submission that the metro would encourage citizens not to use cars, saying this is not the correct “extrapolation” and making cars “uneconomical” like Singapore may work.
In Singapore, cars are expensive and a prospective buyer has to secure certificates of entitlement (COE) in a bid as per media reports. A tender for COE bids for a mid-sized sedan costs around Rs 24 lakh.
Mehta, listing the benefits and the impact of the metro rail project, said carbon emissions would come down if the metro is running as vehicular traffic would also reduce.
“Above 13 lakh passengers may travel through the metro and may lead to ease in traffic situation, lesser number of cars, fuel consumption and air pollution,” he said.
“Rate of growth of cars will keep on increasing. People will continue having cars. See what happened in Delhi. You have the peripheral way but that does not mean that the city will get de-clogged,” the CJI observed.
“The extrapolation that the people will stop driving cars, fuel consumption will go down. It does not help. Reduction happens when you do something like Singapore – make it so uneconomical to have cars,” Justice Chandrachud said.
(With PTI inputs)
Note: The story was updated with the court’s observations on vehicular traffic after it was published.