Municipal Commissioner Can't Act As 'Tree Officer' When Acting As Implementing Authority For Development Projects: MP High Court
Anukriti Mishra
9 Jan 2025 6:54 PM IST
The Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that Municipal Commissioner cannot act as both a 'Tree Officer' as well as the Implementing Authority of a Development project seeking permission for tree felling.
In doing so, the court directed the State Government to appoint any 'Forest Officer' not below the rank of Gazetted Officer as 'Tree Officer' before whom the Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation may apply for the permission for cutting the trees in the two development projects viz. Malhar Ashram and MOG Lines.
The division bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Binod Kumar Dwivedi observed, “…the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, who is implementing authority for development of these two projects could not have acted as a 'Tree Officer' to grant permission for cutting the trees to itself specially for the projects implemented and undertaken by the Indore Municipal Corporation.”
The development comes in a PIL challenging the alleged arbitrary action of the State authorities in cutting or felling trees in Indore city, specifically in the Malhar Ashram and MOG lines areas.
As per the plea, the said areas contain trees of several species and is a crucial oxygen hub with over 1,000 trees. Therefore, the removal of these trees can cause significant environmental harm, such as increased urban heat island effects, reduced biodiversity, and higher ambient temperatures.
The main contention raised in the petition was that the Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation could not have granted the permission to himself for the projects undertaken by the Indore Municipal Corporation as it would be against the principles of natural justice.
The petition also challenged the constitutional validity of Section 4 (Appointment of Tree Officer) and 6 (Procedure for obtaining permission to fell, cut, remove or dispose of a tree) of the Madhya Pradesh Vrikshon Ka Parirakshan (Nagariya Kshetra) Adhiniyam, 2001, and Notification dated January 2, 2002 by which State appointed the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation for the Municipal Corporation area and the Chief Municipal Officer for the Municipal and Nagar Panchayat area as the Tree Officer in their respective jurisdiction.
The court while hearing the matter on December 18, 2024 took note of the fact that Municipal Corporation, Indore is undertaking development projects of Malhar Ashram and MOG Lines and for these development works, certain old trees in the campus are required to be cut, for which permission was granted by the Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation under Section 6 of the Act.
Thus, the court concluded that the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation being the implementing authority for development of these two projects could not have acted as a 'Tree Officer' to grant permission for cutting the trees to itself especially for the projects undertaken by the Indore Municipal Corporation.
“We hereby direct the State Government to immediately notify any Forest Officer not below the rank of Gazetted Officer as 'Tree Officer' before whom the Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation may apply for the permission for cutting the trees. It is further directed that till this entire procedure is completed, no tree shall be cut on the basis of the permission granted by the Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation as Tree Officer in these two projects viz. Malhar Ashram and MOG Lines.”, the Court said.
Case Title: Dr. Aman Sharma versus The State of Madhya Pradesh and Ors, WP No. 17446 of 2024