The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Maharashtra government over the compensatory afforestation carried out in lieu of trees cut in Aarey forest after an inspection of the over 20,000 saplings revealed that only 50% of trees had managed to survive.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai threatened to withdraw all past orders of tree felling noting how the state has not been “sincere” in implementing the court orders. It further directed the state chief secretary to come out with concrete proposals for management and protection of the trees planted as part of compensatory afforestation by November 10.
The court was hearing an application filed by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) to chop trees for the construction of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project (GMLR) connecting Filmcity, Goregaon with Khindipada (Amar Nagar) in Mulund.The application was filed in a suo motu matter pending since 2019 on protection of Aarey Forests, considered as the green lung of Mumbai.
On August 14, the court had permitted the MMRCL to remove 95 trees on the undertaking to plant 1344 trees as part of compensatory afforestation. The court further directed the Conservator of Forests to file a report giving the health status of the saplings already planted over the last decade.
The report presented to the court by Anitta Patil, who is also the Director of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in the state forest department showed that on inspection of the site earmarked for compensatory afforestation, out of the 20,460 saplings planted, only 50% are surviving.
Even among the surviving trees, their overall growth was irregular and stunted with the majority having a height of just 1-2 feet. The stunted growth was attributed to the lack of continued maintenance and care, natural factors such as poor soil depth, water scarcity, and absence of fencing to prevent grazing and encroachment on this land.
“If this is your conduct and your concern for the environment, we will recall all permissions that we have granted,” said the bench, also comprising justice K Vinod Chandran.
The MMRCL had moved an additional application for felling 1039 trees as part of the tunnel work being undertaken for the GMLR project. The bench put the application on hold awaiting the response of the chief secretary.
Underling that such orders are passed in the interest of sustainable development, the bench said, “This court has always insisted on balancing competing rights. On one hand, the development work cannot be stalled and on the other hand, the environment needs to be protected.”
Further, the bench held, “Taking into consideration the larger public interest of sustainable development, if this court has granted permission for felling of trees, we find that the state or authorities have not attended to the same with the sincerity it required.”
The state represented by senior advocate Maninder Singh admitted that the norms adopted for compensatory afforestation have been found lacking to some extent. The bench said, “It is not some, it is gross. You file an affidavit or else we will recall our orders. We won’t permit you in such a manner.”
The report by the Forest Conservator prepared on October 15 said, “A total of 20,460 seedlings were planted under the Compensatory Afforestation and CSR plantation schemes funded by the MMRCL. It was found that out of the total planted 20,460 seedlings, approximately 50% of the saplings have survived based on field verification and available records.”
It further recommended that to ensure long-term sustainability of these saplings, adequate protection measures be implemented along with regular monitoring and maintenance to support ecological restoration and environmental improvement in the region.
The petitioners including civil society members and non-profit bodies opposing MMRCL’s application informed the court that the report contains documents to suggest that trees failed to survive as the surface was rocky with little water available to support plant growth.
The court told Singh, “You choose a site which is not suitable for plantation. Is this the sincerity with which you are dealing with the court’s orders.”
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appearing for one of the civil society bodies said that the inspection report of Collector of Forests revealed that in September, when an inspection was conducted through random sampling method, at one of the sites (Ram gad plantation area), although the plantation is recorded in the official register and documents, no visible plantation was found on site.
Further, the report showed the pipeline system in the plantation area to be completely damaged, with only a single small pipeline remaining, which is operated through a solar-powered motor pump.
He further cited a report prepared by the IIT-Bombay in 2023 which recommended that the MMRCL should be asked to undertake additional plantation of 3500 saplings to compensate for the saplings which failed to survive. In May 2025, MMRCL applied for additional land and in September, the state forest department allotted 15 hectares of forest land.
As per a January 10, 2025 order, the top court has prohibited the Tree Authority to process any request for felling of trees in the Aarey forest region. Due to this order, Tree Authority approached the top court for permitting tree felling in relation to the GMLR project.
The court had in October 2019 and April 2023 directed the state government to provide status of the trees planted while undertaking development works requiring chopping or translocation of Aarey forest trees. However, the same was not implemented.
Further, it was pointed out that under the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection & Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, the state is required to carry out geo-tagging of trees and to carry out afforestation by planting trees of suitable species.
MMRCL had agreed to geo-tag the transplanted and new trees. In its new application, the company told the court that since the GMLR project seeks to enhance connectivity and serve as the fourth East- West corridor complementing existing routes like Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road and Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, the length of the project has been increased from the existing 6.62 metres. For this, it proposed to extend each tunnel length by 600 metres for which additional trees were sought to be cut.
