SUPREME Court of India to be hold special sitting tomorrow on Aarey tree felling, converts letter by Students Into PIL.
The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the tree felling in north Mumbai’s Aarey colony and will hold a special sitting on Monday after it converted a representation by a group of law students into a Public Interest Litigation.
A special bench has been formed for urgent hearing of the case against the felling of over 2,600 trees in Aarey colony for the construction of a Mumbai Metro car shed, which has been opposed by activists and residents and sparked massive protests in the city. The SC judges are on vacation from October 7 to 12 for Dussehra.
A notice posted on the apex court’s website said a “special bench has been constituted to hear the matter tomorrow i.e. 7th October, 2019 at 10.00 a.m. on the basis of a letter dated 6th October, 2019 addressed by Rishav Ranjan with regard to felling of trees in state of Maharashtra which has been registered as a public interest litigation.”
A group of law students of a Noida-based college had on Sunday approached Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, seeking the court’s immediate intervention to stop felling of trees in Mumbai.
The Bombay HC had on Friday rejected a plea against the axing of trees, and the BMC had soon after started chopping trees down under the cover of darkness. A group of activists who protested against the decision were detained and arrested by the police.