SC refuses to stay Maha move to restore Aarey car shed project

The Shinde government’s decision was a departure from stand taken by the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in March 2021 to shift the Metro depot shed site to Kanjurmarg.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the Maharashtra government’s decision to restore the Metro car shed project at the Aarey forest, and permitted the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) to process its request for an additional 84 trees to be cut with the tree authority in the state as part of its shunting work.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA had declared Aarey as a reserved forest. (HT Archive)

The Eknath Shinde government had decided on July 21 to restore the 33 hectare site at Aarey for construction of the Metro car shed for Line 3 that met with resistance from activists, who had obtained a status quo order from the Supreme Court in October 2019 and August 2022 on further felling of trees till the top court decides on the status of Aarey land being a “protected forest”.

The Shinde government’s decision was a departure from stand taken by the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in March 2021 to shift the Metro depot shed site to Kanjurmarg. The Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA had declared Aarey as a reserved forest.

Dealing with an application filed by NGO Vanashakti, seeking a stay on all further work of construction at Aarey, a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justice PS Narasimha said, “It will not be possible at this interim stage to stay any decision to allow the Metro Car Depot for Metro Line-3 to be located at Aarey to be restored.”

At the same time, the court was also faced with another application moved by MMCL to permit processing of its application before the tree authority for a further felling of 83 trees.

Modifying its earlier status quo order, the Court said, “In such projects involving large outlay of public funds, Court cannot be oblivious to the serious dislocation to be caused if public investment gone into the project is to be disregarded.” At the same time, the Court observed, “Undoubtedly, consideration pertaining to environment are equally important as all development must be sustainable.”

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for MMRCL, informed the court that over 90% of work on the car shed was over, and till date, an estimated ₹23,000 crore has been spent on the project. Any delay to implement the project would escalate the project cost to ₹37,000 crore.

Further, it was pointed out that the Bombay high court had by two orders passed in October 2018 and 2019 directed that Aarey was not a forest. Although these decisions are under challenge by Vanashakti and others that will now be taken up in February, MMRCL informed the court that in 2018 and 2019, on the strength of the high court orders, permission was granted for felling 2,144 trees for the metro depot and 212 trees for construction of ramps. This fact also weighed with the court, as the order said, “Substantial number of trees falling within the area of the Metro car depot and ramp have already been felled.”

Allowing the MMRCL application, the bench said, “We arrive at the conclusion that MMRCL be permitted to pursue its application before the Tree Authority for purposes of constructing ramp. The Authority will be at liberty to take an independent decision on the application and on the conditions to be imposed.” To this extent, the court modified its earlier order directing status quo.

The activists seeking to protect Aarey as the green lung space for Mumbai adjoining the Sanjay Gandhi National Park had argued that the reversal of decision to restore Aarey as the location of the metro depot from Kanjurmarg was taken without any basis. Senior advocates CU Singh and Anitha Shenoy, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the capacity of proposed site at Aarey will exhaust by 2031, following which additional need will arise to fell some 1,000 trees. They urged the court to consider the ecologically sensitive nature of this area.

But the bench examined the documents in detail to discover that in April 2019, the Supreme Court refused to grant any relief to stay the Metro car shed project at Aarey. Further, it observed that on October 16, 2015, the Maharashtra government accepted the report of a technical committee that proposed Aarey as the site for Line 3 metro car shed.

“The state government which had taken the decision in the first place in October 2015 later changed its view while deciding realignment at Kanjurmarg,” the bench said. The solicitor general, who also represented the Maharashtra government, informed the Court that the decision of July 21 was based on a report prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and project consultant Systra, which held that Aarey was “sufficient” to meet the current and projected requirement till year 2055.

The same report that was prepared following a meeting of officials of DMRC, the state government and the Centre, noted several “operational and maintenance bottlenecks” at Kanjurmarg, where car sheds of two metro lines were sought to be merged.