The Bombay High Court on Wednesday restrained the BMC’s Tree Authority from granting permission for cutting trees due to its failure to appoint independent experts as members.
A Bench of Justices A.S Oka and M.S Sonak said, “The failure to appoint nominated members defeats the whole purpose of the Tree Authority. The existing Tree Authority shall not take any decisions on applications pending before it. This, however, does not prevent the committee to appoint the nominated members as prescribed under the Protection and Prevention of Trees Act, 1975. As soon as such appointment is made, they can come back to us for permission to resume their functioning.”