BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) not to carry out tree felling and translocation as ordered by the Tree Authority till November 4, the next date of hearing.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi passed the order after hearing a PIL filed by Dattatraya T Devare and Bangalore Environment Trust.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Tree Authority uploaded an order on the BBMP website on October 17 permitting BMRCL to translocate 29 trees and fell 39 of 130 trees coming in the way of Metro project in different places. The counsel further submitted that the court direct officials not to implement the Tree Authority’s order till he filed objections.
The bench then permitted him to do so and restrained BMRCL from translocating and felling trees till the next date of hearing.Of 130 trees coming in the way of Metro work, the BMRCL itself proposed to retain 59 trees by readjusting alignment. Later, an expert committee recommended retaining 62 trees including 59 proposed to be retained by BMRCL. It also recommended to fell 39 trees and translocate 29 after examining BMRCL’s applications and carrying out field visits.