Madras HC directs NHAI to file report on plantation activities undertaken along Highways
MADURAI: Hearing a contempt petition filed against the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for failing to comply with the Court's order of planting saplings to compensate trees felled for its projects, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court directed the department to file report on the plantation activities undertaken pursuant to the Court order, on or before next hearing on November 8.
A division bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and N Sathish Kumar gave the direction on a contempt petition filed by an advocate S M Anantha Murugan in 2015, against the Union Transport Secretary Vijay Chhibber and NHAI chairman R.P. Singh for failing to comply with the Court's order of planting 10 saplings for every tree cut by the department for its four-lane projects.
Anantha Murugan had stated in his petition that thousands of trees were being felled by the NHAI for widening the Highways but little is being done to compensate for the loss of the trees. The Court has permitted the NHAI to cut trees based on their undertaking that they will be planting saplings three times more than the number of trees felled by them, but the same is not being fulfilled by the authorities, he stated.
The advocate had further contended that the authorities must be prevented from collecting toll fee, as the same is not being spent towards maintaining the trees. As the NHAI has not completed the plantation of saplings as directed by the Court, the advocate had approached the Court with the contempt petition.