In a reprieve for Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the Bombay High Court on Monday declined interim relief to an NGO, which sought a stay on the permission of Thane Tree Authority to transplant and fell over 500 trees for Metro-4 line. The line will run on the Wadala-Ghatkopar-Mulund-Thane-Kasarvadavli route. The court asked the NGO to deposit the amount equivalent to the loss MMRDA would suffer in the event of a stay for consideration of interim relief, after which the NGO withdrew the interim plea. However, the court granted liberty to the NGO to file a fresh substantive plea seeking similar reliefs and disposed of the plea, thus clearing the way for MMRDA to implement tree panel’s permission. A division bench of Justice K K Tated and Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing interim application by NGO Thane Nagrik Pratishthan, challenging permissions issued by Thane Tree Authority under Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act for felling and transplantation of trees for Metro-4 project. The application was moved in a petition that claimed the Metro line was arbitrarily converted into an elevated project leading to felling of over 500 trees, instead of being developed as an underground project and the same was in contrary to the recommendations of experts.
