SC to consider plea listing of DMRC on felling of trees for metro projects

The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to consider listing for an urgent hearing the plea of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) alleging that its ongoing construction work has been halted due to lack of requisite permission for felling trees.

Nearly 3,000 workers are sitting idle and a loss of Rs 3.4 crore is being incurred by DMRC per day because no construction work is going on due to the lack of permission, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on behalf of the PSU.

Assuring listing of the case, the bench asked the apex court official to consider this aspect during the day.

The law officer said that the DMRC has filed an interim application in a pending PIL, titled as T N Godavarman versus UOI, pertaining to issues including forest preservation.

Ask the Registrar to get the matter during lunch time..., said the bench which also comprised justices Surya Kant and A S Bopanna.

Trees are required to be felled in the national capital for DMRC's phase IV expansion plan.

DMRC has identified over 10,000 trees for felling for the expansion work of the Janakpuri-RK Ashram, Maujpur-Majlis Park and Aerocity-Tughlaqabad corridors and has not got requisite permission for chopping them.