A special bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a crucial interim stay, halting the proposed felling of more than 7,800 trees along National Highway-46 in Bhopal. The order was passed on Tuesday, bringing immediate relief to environmental activists protesting the large-scale axing of foliage for a road widening project.
Bench Constituted for Urgent Hearing
The special bench was specifically formed to address an urgent plea seeking a stay on the tree-cutting activities. It comprises Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, the judicial member from the Chennai NGT bench, and Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi, the expert member from the Bhopal bench. This bench was constituted due to the absence of the judicial member from the central NGT bench, Sheo Kumar Singh.
The plea was moved by advocate Harpreet Singh Gupta on behalf of environmental activist Nitin Saxena. Saxena, who has been at the forefront of protests against this project, approached the tribunal after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) allegedly began cutting trees last Saturday. This action followed a green signal from the Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC).
NGT Seeks Clarity from CEC
During the hearing on Monday, the NGT special bench directed the state authorities to produce the minutes of the CEC meeting where the decision to allow the felling of over 7,800 trees was taken. The CEC is a panel constituted by the state government on the directives of the NGT's central bench. Its mandate is to review and approve projects that involve the cutting of more than 25 trees.
Significantly, the counsel representing the authorities could not provide the requested minutes during the hearing. This failure led the bench to impose an immediate stay on all tree-felling activities at the site in question. The bench explicitly stated that the NHAI may continue with other project work, but no trees are to be cut until further orders.
Project on Hold Until 2026 Hearing
The tribunal has scheduled the next hearing in this matter for January 8, 2026. Until that date, the stay order will remain in effect. The bench has directed the state to submit the minutes of the crucial CEC meeting before the next hearing date.
In its order, the bench noted, "Since the result of the minutes of the meeting of the centrally empowered committee (CEC) has not been placed before us, we, therefore, direct that there shall be no cutting/felling of trees at the site in question till the next date of hearing. In the meantime, the NHAI may continue the project work without felling of trees."
The road widening project aims to expand the stretch from the Ayodhya bypass to the Asaram tri-section. This legal intervention marks a significant pause for the project, emphasizing the growing judicial scrutiny over environmental clearances for infrastructure development that involves large-scale ecological impact.
