Special Bench of Bombay High Court Refuses Stay On Cutting Of Trees As Petitioners Wish To Move the Apex Court. (Concretization wins over Nature) Shajeeda Tajdeen BASICS OF LAW Wed, Oct 09, 2019, at ,01:15 PM Introduction: A special Bench of the Bombay High Court on Saturday (05/10/2019) declined to put a stay on the judgment of the High Court which brushed off all the petitions challenging cutting of trees at Aarey Colony (Mumbai) for the Metro Car Shed project. The said abandonment of the petitions took place on 04/10/2019. The Bench comprising of Justice SC Dharmadhikari and Justice AK Menon was especially formed to hear an application filed by the petitioners who were seeking a stay on the order, so as to appeal before the Apex Court. The Petition highlighted the plight of the environment stating that almost 300 trees were already cut down in a period of one day i.e. from 4th October 2019 to 05th October 2019. It also stated that Section 144 was also imposed in the area so as to curb the voice of the activists. The Petitioners contested that during the start of the matter and while the petitions were filed Advocate General appearing for MMRCL had assured Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and Justice Bharti Dangre that MMRCL was is no hurry to cut down the trees and therefore based on this assurity no order was passed by the Court. However, on 4th October 2019, when the Bench rejected all the petitions questioning the Tree Authority's resolution to cut 2646 trees, at one the longest green bed in the city, the petitioners immediately claimed that a verbal request was made to stay the operation of the order so that the shredding of the trees can be prevented, but no avail, the said request was verbally rejected by the Court on the grounds that it expected that the authorities would not take any action instantly. As the Apex Court is closed for Dusshera from 7th October to 11th October, the petitioners considered that the High Court may grant them some temporary relief by staying the order to cut trees or else the proposed Special Leave Petitions before the Supreme court would become unfruitful. Court observed: Once all the substantive proceedings are dismissed, it would not be proper to pass any restraint order and merely on a praecipe. There is nothing on record to show that any request was made to stay the operation, implementation, and enforcement of the judgment and order, nor any specific restraint was sought. We cannot proceed with any oral understanding. Merely because another Bench is constituted, it would not be proper to grant any relief. The nature of the relief is such that if it is granted, that would directly contravene the observations, findings, and conclusions in the detailed judgment." Conclusion: The decision of the Bombay High Court is highly disappointing because it brought the main purpose of the word ‘sustainable development.’ The behavior of the State Government towards protecting nature and the environment is very disheartening because there can be no development without nature. Development should suit nature and not destroy it. hypocrisy is best seen in India because when there was a fire in the Amazon Rain forest many Indians along with the Government were feeling sad for it but when the same thing is happening in our very country the Government is justifying its actions in the name of infrastructure and development. One should remember that by cutting so many trees we are not only harming them alone but also affecting the natural habitat of many animals who stay there. In the future, no animal is to be blamed if they move on roads and harm people because we have forced them to show us their heinous side by taking away their shelter. Apart from this, the loss of many trees will give rise to heat and will pave way for man-made flood. As quoted by Vaclav Smil- ...no matter how complex or affluent, human societies are nothing but subsystems of the biosphere, the Earth's thin veneer of life, which is ultimately run by bacteria, fungi, and green plants. We should remember that nature has its own way of giving back whether good or bad. Development at the cost of nature will lead us nowhere but to our own end. The Apex Court has agreed to hear the petition on Monday (07/101/2019) by constituting a Special Bench for this purpose. It should be noted that the Apex Court is close for Dusshera vacation from 7th October to 11th October, but still, the Judiciary has gone out of its way, by allowing to hear this petition. And this somewhere down the lines restores the faith and trust of the people in its Judicial system.