Supreme Court Grants Permission For Felling Of Trees In The Taj Trapezium Zone To Ensure Construction Of A Railway Line

The Supreme Court has on Friday granted permission for felling of 4108 trees for construction of a third railway line between Mathura and Jhansi, that goes through the Taj Trapezium Zone. The Court found it appropriate to allow felling of these trees as laying down of the track is relevant to deal with hour long delay caused due to unavailability of railway tracks.

A three-judge Bench of CJI SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Ramasubramanian issued the directions while hearing multiple interim applications filed in the Taj Trapezium matter connected with avoiding damage to and relocation of ground near the monument. The Court was also considering another plea regarding issuance of guidelines to reduce number of deaths that occur due to road accidents.

The Court granted two weeks time to ASG Aishwarya Bhati to file a reply on behalf of the Union of India and the State of UP, in terms of the interim application filed by Agra Development Authority with regard to ring road to be build around Agra. The Court also directed the CEC to scrutinise the contents of the interim application filed by the State of UP seeking permission for felling of trees, and submit a report before the the Court in 4 weeks.

The Court questioned ASG Aishwarya Bhati regarding the distinction to be made between minor and major projects, and the ways to determine which polluting industries will be covered by CEC or NEERI. ASG Bhati informed the Court that the air polluting industries are categorised in different categories based on degree of air pollution. The Bench asked ASG Bhati to file an affidavit regarding the categories of air polluting industries in one week.

Advocate Gaurav Agrawal for the Road Safety Committee submitted before the Court that the CEC report states that the State of UP through its letter of 17th July 2020 stated that it wants to consider realignment of the proposed road. The Bench noted that the realignment of the proposed road may be required considering that its well known fact that more accidents happen on highways because of high speed. While permitting the proposed realignment, the Court directed the State to submit the realignment proposal in 3 months and asked the State to ensure that minimum number of trees are cut in the process.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Court that the Rail vikas nigam has asked for permission for construction of a third railway line between mathura junction and Jhansi. The proposed railway is around 274 kms, out of which a stretch of 80 kms goes through the Taj Trapezium Zone. The Rail vikas nigam has applied for permission as the project requires felling of around 4108 trees.

The Bench noted that the laying down of this track is relevant to deal with hour long delay caused due to unavailability of railway tracks. The Court therefore found it appropriate to allow felling of these trees, subject to conditions suggested by CEC.

The Court also granted permission for felling of 126 trees which appear to be coming in way of a 6 lane road in Avanti. The top Court had on a previous occasion granted permission for felling of around 700 trees for a length of 10 kms. However the work of a length of 1 km still remains to be done due to lack of permission to fell 126 trees which are in the remaining 1km part. After observing that the work of constructing water drain and utility duct is also stuck considering lack of permission, and the CEC has already granted permission for the same, the Bench permitted the felling of 126 trees over remaining 1km for widening road in Avanti. The Court has directed that the recommendations and conditions given by CEC are to be followed.

The Bench also asked the CEC to submit a fresh proposal within 4 weeks for widening of 6 lane road in Uttar Pradesh while considering the possibility of saving a greater number of trees in the process.

The Taj Trapezium Zone is a defined area of 10,400 sq km around the Taj Mahal formed to protect the monument from pollution and includes World Heritage Sites like the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. The Apex Court in December 1996 had banned the use of of coal/ coke in industries located in the TTZ, in response to a PIL filed seeking protection of Taj Mahal from environmental pollution.

However last year, the Supreme Court lifted its earlier complete ban on construction, industrial activities and felling of trees in the Taj Trapezium Zone and permitted the industrial units, which do not spread pollution and are in compliance with the rules, to function, after getting a No Objection Certificate from the Ministry of Environment.

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