Supreme Court: Important decision of the Supreme Court on the felling of trees for the expansion of Delhi Metro

Supreme Court: The Supreme Court said on Thursday that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will have to take approval from the Forest Department under the Forest Conservation Act for all the trees to be cut for the expansion of the metro. At the same time, the court said that it will not accept the contention of the Central Empowered Committee appointed by it that all trees are not forests. Significantly, DMRC had applied to the Supreme Court, seeking permission for the felling of trees for the construction of the fourth phase of the metro rail project.

Hearing the petition of DMRC, a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna said that the stand taken by the committee in this entire matter cannot be accepted. We are not ready to accept that all planted trees are not forests. It will lead to chaos. Who will decide whether a tree is planted or grown naturally?

The balance between development and environment necessary: ​​Supreme Court

Advocate A D N Rao, appearing for the committee, argued that the panel had taken a stand based on an earlier judgment of the apex court in 1996 that trees planted in a project area cannot be branded as forest. Is. On this, the court said that it is very important to have a balance between development and the environment. The bench told the Solicitor General that you have to take approval from the Forest Department under the Forest Conservation Act. We will give time to the Government of India to approve it.

Let us tell you that for the 20 km long line from Aerocity to Tughlakabad, more than 10,000 trees will have to be cut. DMRC had filed a petition regarding this. In which he had said that due to not getting permission to cut trees, the construction of some projects has stopped and every day there is a loss of Rs 3.5 crore.