Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Maharashtra government over the compensatory afforestation carried out in lieu of trees cut in Aarey forest to make way for infrastructure projects, after an inspection of more than 20,000 saplings revealed that only 50% of trees had managed to survive.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai threatened to withdraw all previous tree felling, noting that the state has not been “sincere” in implementing the court’s orders. It further directed the state’s chief secretary to come up with concrete proposals by November 10 for the management and protection of the trees planted as part of compensatory afforestation.
The court was hearing an application filed by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) to chop trees for the construction of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project (GMLR), connecting Film City in Goregaon with Khindipada (Amar Nagar) in Mulund. The application was filed in a suo motu (on its own) matter pending since 2019 on the protection of Aarey forest, considered Mumbai’s green lung.
On August 14, the court had permitted MMRCL to remove 95 trees on the undertaking that it would plant 1,344 trees as compensatory afforestation. The court further directed Maharashtra’s Conservator of Forests to file a report giving the health status of the saplings already planted over the last decade.
The report presented to the court by Anitta Patil, who is also the director of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in the state forest department, showed that only 50% of the 20,460 saplings planted for compensatory afforestation are surviving.
Even among the surviving trees, their overall growth was irregular and stunted, with the majority having a height of just 1-2 feet, the report revealed. The stunted growth was attributed to the lack of continued maintenance and care, natural factors such as poor soil depth, water scarcity, and the absence of fencing to prevent grazing and encroachment on this land.
“If this is your conduct and your concern for the environment, we will recall all permissions that we have granted,” said the bench, also comprising justice K Vinod Chandran.
MMRCL had moved an additional application for felling 1,039 trees as part of the tunnel work being undertaken for the GMLR project. The bench put the application on hold, awaiting the chief secretary’s response.
Underlining that such orders are passed in the interest of sustainable development, the bench said, “This court has always insisted on balancing competing rights. On one hand, the development work cannot be stalled; and on the other hand, the environment needs to be protected.”
The bench added, “Taking into consideration the larger public interest of sustainable development, if this court has granted permission for felling of trees, we find that the state or authorities have not attended to the same with the sincerity it required.”
The state, represented by senior advocate Maninder Singh, admitted that the norms adopted for compensatory afforestation have been found lacking to some extent. The bench replied, “It is not some; it is gross. You file an affidavit, or else we will recall our orders. We won’t permit you in such a manner.”
The forest conservator’s report, prepared on October 15, said, “A total of 20,460 seedlings were planted under the Compensatory Afforestation and CSR plantation schemes funded by the MMRCL. It was found that out of the total planted 20,460 seedlings, approximately 50% of the saplings have survived based on field verification and available records.”
To ensure long-term sustainability of these saplings, the report recommended that adequate protection measures be implemented, along with regular monitoring and maintenance to support ecological restoration and environmental improvement in the region.
The petitioners, including civil society members and non-profit bodies opposing MMRCL’s application, informed the court that the report contains documents suggesting that trees failed to survive as the surface was rocky, with little water available to support plant growth.
The court then told Singh, “You choose a site which is not suitable for plantation. Is this the sincerity with which you are dealing with the court’s orders?”
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for one of the civil society bodies, said that the inspection report of the forest conservator revealed that in September, when an inspection was conducted through a random sampling method at one of the sites, although the plantation is recorded in the official register and documents, no visible plantation was found on the site.
Further, the report said the pipeline system in the plantation area was completely damaged, with only a single small pipeline remaining, which is operated through a solar-powered motor pump.
Sankaranarayanan further cited a report prepared by IIT Bombay in 2023, which recommended that MMRCL should be asked to undertake additional plantation of 3,500 saplings to compensate for the saplings that failed to survive. In May 2025, MMRCL applied for additional land; in September, the state forest department allotted 15 hectares of forest land.
As per a January 2025 order, the top court has prohibited the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Tree Authority from processing any request for the felling of trees in the Aarey forest region. Due to this order, the Tree Authority approached the top court for permission to fell trees for the GMLR project.
The court had, in October 2019 and April 2023, directed the state government to provide the status of the trees planted while undertaking development works requiring chopping or translocation of Aarey forest trees. However, the same was not implemented.
Further, it was pointed out that under the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection & Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, the state is required to carry out geo-tagging of trees and to carry out afforestation by planting trees of suitable species.
MMRCL had agreed to geo-tag the new and transplanted trees. In its new application, the company told the court that since the GMLR project seeks to enhance connectivity and serve as the fourth east-west corridor in Mumbai, complementing existing routes like the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road and Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, the length of the project has been increased from the existing 6.62 kilometres. For this, it proposed to extend each tunnel length by 600 metres, for which additional trees were sought to be cut.