Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court had placed an interim stay on the felling of 181 trees in Ajni Vann for the ambitious Ajni Intermodal Station project. The court had deemed the permission granted by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) Tree Authority for cutting the trees as illegal. It further directed the concerned contractor and the Railway Land Development Authority to jointly apply for fresh permission for tree felling.
During a hearing before Justice Bharti Dangre and Justice Abhay Mantri on Tuesday, the NMC informed the court that a decision had been made regarding the new application for tree felling. The details of this decision will be submitted to the court in an affidavit on October 16.
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A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by the Swachh Association, seeking to protect the Ajni Vann, is currently pending before the Nagpur Bench. The petitioner has claimed that the large-scale felling of trees is being carried out under the guise of the Ajni Intermodal Station project. The first phase of this project involves development work on 54 acres of land, for which the contract has been awarded to Keystone. On April 25, 2023, the High Court had issued an interim order prohibiting the cutting of trees in Ajni Vann without NMC’s permission. Consequently, Keystone had submitted an application to NMC seeking permission to cut 181 trees in Ajni Vann.
The petitioner, Swachh Foundation, had filed an application in the PIL opposing the felling of these 181 trees. They alleged that the notice inviting objections to tree felling had been published in obscure and low-circulation newspapers, giving only seven days for objections. Despite several objections and after completing the objection process, the NMC granted permission to Keystone on March 13 to cut the 181 trees.
The court, however, had declared the permission granted by NMC’s Tree Authority as illegal. It directed the contractor and the Railway Land Development Authority to submit a new application for permission and ordered the Tree Authority to take a decision on the matter.
Advocate Parvez Mirza represented the petitioner, while Advocate Gemini Kasat appeared on behalf of NMC.
In a previous hearing, NMC had informed the court that the Tree Authority had invited public objections regarding the application for tree felling. As a result, 80 different social organizations and individuals had raised objections against the tree felling for the Ajni Station project. These objections were heard on September 5. Following this, the NMC requested more time from the court to re-inspect the site and make a decision on the application. The court had granted the NMC Tree Authority’s request for additional time.
