The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a plea against construction of a metro car shed under the Mumbai Metro Rail project, in Aarey forest area..The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan who cited urgency contending that more trees in the forest could be cut over the weekend to make space for the construction.The bench initially agreed to list it next week but Sankaranarayanan pointed out the damage that could happen over the weekend. "They'll operate more JCBs over the weekend; hence, the urgency my lords. Please list the matter tomorrow," he said. Considering this submission, the Court agreed to hear the case tomorrow. .The Supreme Court had on 7 October, 2019 ordered the State of Maharashtra not to cut any further trees in Aarey and maintain the status quo. The matter had reached the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court had dismissed pleas challenging the removal of trees in Aarey, and thereafter refused to entertain an urgent request to stay the tree removal, the municipal authorities had begun clearing the trees in Aarey.This had prompted a student delegation to write a letter to then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi to intervene in the matter. Treating the letter as a petition, a Special Bench was constituted to hear the matter which had then directed status quo. The top court had also clarified later that there was no stay on the construction of the contentious metro car shed project, and the status quo pertained only to further felling of trees.Subsequently, after the Uddhav Thackeray led coalition Government came to power in Maharashtra in 2019, nearly 800 acres of the Aarey area was declared as a reserved forest and the State decided to develop the car shed at Kanjurmarg instead.But with the recent fall of the Uddhav Thakceray government, one of the first decisions taken by the new Eknath Shinde-led government which took charge on June 30, was to recommence work at Aarey, one of Mumbai's major green lungs.When the matter was taken up today, Senior Counsel Sankaranarayanan, representing some activists, briefed the Court on the background and facts of the case and the impending question of Aarey's eco-sensitive zone tag as well as its status as an unclassified forest.The Court after considering the urgency agreed to hear the case tomorrow. .[Read our live-coverage of the hearing below]
The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a plea against construction of a metro car shed under the Mumbai Metro Rail project, in Aarey forest area..The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan who cited urgency contending that more trees in the forest could be cut over the weekend to make space for the construction.The bench initially agreed to list it next week but Sankaranarayanan pointed out the damage that could happen over the weekend. "They'll operate more JCBs over the weekend; hence, the urgency my lords. Please list the matter tomorrow," he said. Considering this submission, the Court agreed to hear the case tomorrow. .The Supreme Court had on 7 October, 2019 ordered the State of Maharashtra not to cut any further trees in Aarey and maintain the status quo. The matter had reached the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court had dismissed pleas challenging the removal of trees in Aarey, and thereafter refused to entertain an urgent request to stay the tree removal, the municipal authorities had begun clearing the trees in Aarey.This had prompted a student delegation to write a letter to then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi to intervene in the matter. Treating the letter as a petition, a Special Bench was constituted to hear the matter which had then directed status quo. The top court had also clarified later that there was no stay on the construction of the contentious metro car shed project, and the status quo pertained only to further felling of trees.Subsequently, after the Uddhav Thackeray led coalition Government came to power in Maharashtra in 2019, nearly 800 acres of the Aarey area was declared as a reserved forest and the State decided to develop the car shed at Kanjurmarg instead.But with the recent fall of the Uddhav Thakceray government, one of the first decisions taken by the new Eknath Shinde-led government which took charge on June 30, was to recommence work at Aarey, one of Mumbai's major green lungs.When the matter was taken up today, Senior Counsel Sankaranarayanan, representing some activists, briefed the Court on the background and facts of the case and the impending question of Aarey's eco-sensitive zone tag as well as its status as an unclassified forest.The Court after considering the urgency agreed to hear the case tomorrow. .[Read our live-coverage of the hearing below]
