The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday asked the State government whether it was willing to refer to the committee of experts the issue of felling 872 coconut, mango and a few other varieties of trees falling in the alignment of the metro project, though permission under the Karnataka Preservation of Trees (KPT) Act, 1976 is not required to fell such varieties of trees.
Though prima facie the provisions of the KPT Act are not applicable to these trees, the doctrine of public trust requires the State and its agencies like the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd to protect environment, the Bench said while observing that the State cannot mechanically remove these trees without applying mind as the endeavour should be to save maximum number of trees for sustainable development.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S.Vishwajith Shetty passed the order during the hearing of a PIL petition, filed by Dattatraya T. Devare and Bangalore Environment Trust, through which the court is examining the legality of removal of trees for the metro project and widening of some roads by the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd.
No permission of the Tree Officer is required for felling certain varieties of trees, including coconut, mango, etc., that are listed in Section 8 (7) of the Act. However, the definition of “trees” in Section 2 (g) does not grant exemption to the varieties of trees, listed in Section 8 (7), from application of the provisions of the Act, the Bench noted. Moreover, the Tree Authority has been entrusted with the duty of protecting “all trees” in its jurisdiction, the court observed.
The Bench passed the order on an application filed by the BMRCL seeking the court’s nod to fell 872 trees while pointing out that no permission of tree authority is required to fell these trees.