Approach expert panel: Karnataka HC tells BMRCL on felling 872 trees

The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the BMRCL to submit an application before the reconstituted expert committee with its proposal to fell 872 trees along the Nagawara-Gottigere alignment of the metro project.

The court had asked the committee, which it reconstituted in September 2020, to consider if any of the trees could be saved. The committee is made of experts from the Department of Forestry, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK.

Through an Interlocutory Application (IA), the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) had contended that 872 of the 1,740 trees on the alignment are exempted from the purview of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976. It mentioned that restrictions on felling the trees do not apply to trees mentioned in sub-section 7 of section 8 of the act.

However, the court had clarified that the state and public authorities must take all steps to protect the environment under the doctrine of public trust.

Pointing out that the BMRCL cannot mechanically remove or fell 872 trees, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka had directed both the state government and BMRCL to clarify if they want to go before the expert committee.

On Friday, the BMRCL told the court that it would submit an application before the committee. The bench directed the committee to inspect the sites where the trees are located and examine whether the 872 trees are covered by sub-section 7 of section 8 of the act and whether any of them can be saved.

It also said that procedures such as publishing notices and inviting objections need not be followed.

“The committee will also consider whether the trees which are required to be felled and which cannot be saved for facilitating the metro railway can be translocated and in what manner the same can be translocated,” the bench said.

The expert committee has been directed to submit a report to the court by February 15, 2021. The next hearing has been posted to February 17.