Chandigarh Feb 7: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a balanced ruling regarding the removal of heritage trees in Mohali, allowing infrastructure work to proceed while protecting green cover at a private development site. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry granted permission to the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to remove heritage trees to facilitate the construction of three major traffic rotaries.
The court noted that the removal of these trees is necessary to alleviate traffic congestion at the junctions of Sector 67-68-79-80, Sector 68-69-78-79, and the Sohana junction on PR-7 Road. However, the bench took a firm stand regarding a proposed mall site in Sector 62, strictly restraining the developer from axing 41 fully grown trees located along the property boundary.
“So far as sites of three rotaries are concerned, since very few heritage trees are now to be cut and considering the facilitation of traffic congestion, this Court permits respondent– GMADA to cut the remaining heritage trees,” the bench held in its order.
The ruling followed a detailed inspection report from a court-appointed commission. While the court allowed the felling of two Peepal trees situated in the middle of the mall site, it ordered the protection of a third heritage tree located to the side. To offset the environmental impact, the private company has been directed to plant 5,000 trees across the state during the upcoming monsoon season.
GMADA has also been tasked with a significant compensatory afforestation plan. The court mentioned that the authority must plant ten times the number of trees removed for the rotaries. This plantation is to be carried out on public land, including highways, parks, and government building complexes, with the Punjab Advocate-General confirming that Mullanpur has been identified for this purpose.
