After HC ruling, garden dept will meet, discuss fate of tree authority

MUMBAI : A day after the Bombay high court (HC) ruled that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) tree authority (TA) cannot function without appointing independent experts in the committee, civic chief Ajoy Mehta has called for a meeting with garden department officials. The fate of the TA will be discussed in the meeting on Monday.

A senior official from the gardens department said, “Following the court order, the commissioner has now called for a meeting to decide the fate of the TA. The meeting will decide the process to appoint the experts.”

The TA takes decisions regarding all tree cutting and transplantation proposals after hearing suggestions and objections from the public. On Wednesday, the court in its ruling said without any environmentalists on the panel, the TA cannot permit any tree cutting in the city. It was hearing a petition filed by city activist Zoru Bhathena.

“The Tree Act mentions that there should be an equal number of experts and civic members in the committee,” Bhathena said.

So far, the civic body had been functioning with 13 elected representatives from various political parties, but no experts.

In its defence, the civic body said section 3(3) of the Tree Act states that the TA “may” nominate representatives of non-official organisations and hence, it is not mandatory. HC refused to accept this explanation.

The order will also affect the second public hearing regarding the proposal to cut 2,238 trees and transplant 464 trees for the Aarey Metro car shed. The second hearing was to take place in front of the TA after the court ordered the civic body to give enough time for all objectors to express their suggestions and objections regarding the car shed proposal.