While relaxing the interim order which banned the axing of trees at three proposed rotary sites in Mohali, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Friday restrained a developer from cutting 41 trees for the construction of a mall.
Elaborating on the relaxations as well certain restrictions over cutting of trees, the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry allowed the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to cut the remaining heritage trees for three rotaries, coming up at the Sector 67/68/79/80, Sector 68-69-78-79 and Sohana junctions on PR-7 (Airport Road), Mohali.
As per the order, GMADA is permitted to cut the one remaining heritage tree at the Sector 67/68/79/80 junction, two at the Sector 68/69/78/79 junction and six at Sohana junction site.
The court was hearing a clutch of petitions – one seeking the quashing of a Mohali administration decision to cut 251 trees for building three roundabouts near Gurdwara Singh Shaheedan, Sector 78/79, and near CP-67 mall, and another opposing tree cutting for a shopping mall. It was in these proceedings that the HC on December 24 stayed the felling of trees across Punjab, modified later for certain categories of work such as those undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India.
“So far as the site of the proposed Mall is concerned, 41 trees, appearing to be of age 10 to 20 years and about 20 to 25 feet tall, are standing on the boundary of the proposed mall. Phoenix Mills Limited Company is restrained from these trees,” said the court. The bench, however, allowed the firm to axe two pipal trees located right in the middle of the mall site. A third pipal tree, which is a little to the side, is recommended to be protected and retained, and thus not be axed. The court further directed Phoenix Mills to plant 5,000 trees across Punjab during the forthcoming monsoon season and submit a compliance report.
GMADA has also been directed to carry out compensatory plantation, 10 times the number of trees cut for the rotaries.
“This compensatory plantation is to be done during the forthcoming monsoon season on public land, which can include vacant land on the side of national or state highways, or local roads in rural and urban areas, parks, places of public amenities for common use, buildings belonging to then executive/legislature/judiciary or any other place of public use,” said the court.
Punjab advocate general (AG) Maninderjit Singh Bedi told the court that compensatory afforestation will be made in Mullanpur, Mohali. This undertaking was given by the AG after it was found that Chandigarh University, which is proposed by the official respondents, as a site for making compensatory afforestation, has not granted any no-objection certificate (NOC) in this regard.
Farmers allowed to cut trees on private land
The bench also partially relaxed the ban on farmers cutting eucalyptus and poplar grown on private land for industrial use, noting submissions that such plantations were raised as raw material for the paper and plywood industries. The matter will now come up on March 5, with the court directing compliance reports to be filed.
(With inputs by Mandeep Kaur Narula)
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