Bombay HC defers hearing of petitions against Metro car shed in Mumbai's Aarey colony to 30 September

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a clutch of petitions against the proposed Metro car shed in Mumbai’s Aarey colony and listed them for 30 September. The court also sought assurance from the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) that no trees will be cut in the area till the next hearing. [caption id=“attachment_5454681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Bombay High Court. CNN-News18[/caption] In the last hearing of the issue, the court had directed the MMRC and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file responses to the petitions filed by citizens and environment activists , who have been holding peaceful protests against the government’s decision to build the car shed for the third line of the Metro in the ‘green lung’ of Mumbai. However, the authorities had only filed partial responses ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, which is why the court adjourned the matter, CNN-News18 reported. The report also said that the batch of 12 petitions challenging the proposal will 12 petitions have been filed will be heard the whole week starting 30 September. The issue has also taken on political significance ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election likely to be held next month. Allies BJP and Shiv Sena are at loggerheads over the issue with party chief Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya’s vocal objection to the Devendra Fadnavis state government’s decision. On Monday, Uddhav warned the government that the plan could end up like the aborted Nanar refinery in the Konkan region. A proposed Rs 3 lakh crore refinery in Nanar in the state’s Ratnagiri district had to be scrapped after the Sena put up stiff resistance. Uddhav’s statement came a day after Fadnavis stated that Aarey was not a forest and is government’s land. On Aaditya’s opposition to the proposed felling of over 2,600 trees in the leafy colony, Fadnavis on Sunday said objections were invited when the decision to set up the car depot for Metro III project in Aarey was taken. “Around 13,000 objections came…out of those 13,000, 10,000 objections were from one Bengaluru-based website. I can understand the view of Thackeray on this tree felling issue, but he should understand what is going on in the minds of some handful of people who are opposing it,” he said. With inputs from agencies