Bangalore:
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed felling of trees across Bangalore for widening of roads by the city's civic agency Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
The interim stay was issued by a two-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna, in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Environment Support Group (ESG).
The ESG had challenged the civic agency's proposal to widen 216 roads in violation of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act and related Acts.
"Prima facie, we feel the public must be made aware of a proposal for removal of trees by issuance of a public notice so that objections can be invited. The Act does not provide any machinery in this regard," the bench observed.
The bench, however, granted adjournment to the BBMP for placing material on record to indicate that careful thought goes into any decision for felling a tree and not wide-scale felling when roads are to be widened or highways are to be built.
ESG Counsel Sunil Dutta Yadav pointed out: "The BBMP's tree officer's decision to order massive felling of trees is neither objective nor justifying. In fact, entire lines of trees are chopped without alternatives, such as retaining street trees as medians. Appeals made against the order before the Tree Authority is meaningless as the same officers who clear the tree felling are appellate officers. Thus, the Tree Act is rendered meaningless for which it was enacted."
Expressing serious reservations over the lack of public involvement in decisions on felling trees and road widening, the bench said the civic agency (BBMP) must serve the public, and not the other way round.
"We are dismayed over the denudation of the greenery in the city. Just look at what you have done to this city? Trees, lakes and gardens are all disappearing rapidly," the judges told the civic agency's counsel.
The bench also found the Tree Act provisions grossly insufficient in responding to the complexities of current problems.