Aarey protest: SC takes suo motu cognisance, special bench to hear matter today

The Supreme Court of India (SC) on October 6 took suo motu cognisance of Mumbai's Aarey Colony tree felling issue and converted a representation handed by students to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Ranjan Gogoi, into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

A special bench of the apex court will sit on October 7 to hear the matter.

Earlier on October 6, students and environmental activists, in a last ditch effort to stop the felling of over 2,500 trees in Mumbai's Aarey Colony had requested the CJI to use his special jurisdiction and "go out of the conventional way to put a stay on the felling of trees in Aarey by Mumbai Authorities".

In a statement to the media, the student delegation said the decision was taken as "there is no time left for filing an appeal petition and going through legal technicalities as by then Aarey will be cleared off by the Mumbai Authorities".

The trees are being felled to make way for a metro rake depot after the Bombay High Court on October 4 dismissed a clutch of petitions challenging the Mumbai civic body's order for chopping the trees. The High Court on October 5 had refused to grant stay on felling of trees.

Justice SC Dharmadhikar refused urgent mentioning in the case and asked the petitioners to approach Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.

Following this, protest ensued in which 38 people were arrested out of which 29 were produced before the Borivali Court, which sent them to judicial custody. The 29 were given conditional bail earlier in the day.