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A Karnataka High Court bench consisting of Chief Justice Rituraj Awasthi and Justice Sachin Magdum today paved way for the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) to continue 155-km of road widening by directing the corporation to fell 18 trees and translocate 9 trees.
 

It is to be noted that the road widening project had been on hold for one year and two months owing to the lack of clearance to fell these 27 trees.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that these were 27 heritage trees which are coming in the way of laying of road by the KRDCL. It was submitted that this court had appointed an expert committee ie GKVK which has submitted its report and the said report had been approved by the court. However the petitioner had approached Supreme Court challenging the order of this court dated 20th September approving the report of the expert committee. The SLP was disposed off with liberty to the petitioners to raise the concerns before Division Bench of the High Court and the High Court was requested to consider the submission of the petitioner and pass orders.

The petitioner submitted that KRDCL be directed to change the alignment of the road to save these trees and that the importance of these trees is very high and there is severe environmental impact due to cutting off these tress.

The Counsel for the KRDCL submitted that the alignment of the road cannot be changed as it will have devastating effect and fresh assessment in relation to the affected trees if the alignment is changed. It was further submitted that a fresh assessment would have to be made and it will also involve fresh acquisition of land as well as the redoing of the entire exercise before starting of the project.

It was submitted that GKVK which is the expert body has assessed the impact of these trees and has suggested that out of the 27 trees, 9 can be translocated and only 18 shall be felled. It was further submitted that  KRDCL are ready to translocate the 9 trees and also ready to plant any number of trees in place of cutting 18 trees as suggested by expert body.

It was further submitted that because of the pendency of the litigation the project has been delayed for the last one year and two months and no work has been carried out. The cost has escalated and the petitioner shall be asked to bear the escalation.

The court on hearing the parties noted that it is only because of these 27 trees which have come in the way of laying down of road that the entire project has been held up. The court noted that out of these trees 9 trees can be translocated and these 9 trees can be saved by translocation.

As far as 18 trees is concerned, the government was directed to aforest it with as many trees as possible.
The court while noting that they are not an expert body to opine whether these trees can be cut, GKVK has opined that it is necessary to cut these 18 trees. The court recorded that KRDCL shall be allowed to cut 18 trees and start the project immediately. The court noted that the GKVK may assess the environmental impact of cutting these trees and submit these report to the KRDCL. The  court held that the Respondent corporation shall therefore start the project and complete the laying off the roads at the earliest and submit its status report to this court on the next date.

The matter has now been posted for hearing on 8th February.

Cause title: Dattatreya Devare Vs State of Karnataka