PNP 1 CAI101-8.7.sxw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPLICATION NO.101 OF 2011 IN PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO.93 OF 2009 Deepak Balkrishna Vahikar and another ..Petitioners. vs. The State of Maharashtra and others ..Respondents. And The Deputy Municipal Commissioner and the Tree Officer, PMC ..Applicant. ..... Ms. Vrunda Surve with Ms. S.P. Potbhare i/b Mr. Priten P. Killedar for the Petitioners. Mr. Vinay A. Sonpal, A panel counsel for Respondents 1 and 4. Dr. Sadhna Mahashabde for Respondents 2 and 3 Mr. Abhijit P. Kulkarni for the Applicant. ...... CORAM : DR.D.Y.CHANDRACHUD & ANOOP V. MOHTA, JJ. 8 July 2011. P.C. : This application has been taken out by the Pune Municipal Corporation for permission to cut 265 trees and to transplant five trees at Rajeev Gandhi Zoo situated at Katraj. This exercise is required to be carried out in order to construct a dike between the place where the wild animals are kept and the area where the spectators assemble for viewing. In the Civil Application it has been stated that 850 new trees have already been planted by the Applicant at the Zoo, in lieu of the trees which are required to be cut. In the PNP 2 CAI101-8.7.sxw circumstances, we grant permission as prayed to the Municipal Corporation subject to the following conditions : (a) An undertaking shall be filed of the Deputy Municipal Commissioner concerned stating (i) That in compliance with the report of the expert committee, three new trees shall be planted for every existing tree to be felled; (ii) That the trees to be replanted shall be of local species; (iii)That a plan shall be annexed to the undertaking earmarking the places at which the trees shall be replanted; (iv)The name of the agency which shall carry out the transplantation; (v) The trees which are to be replanted shall not be small saplings, but shall be half grown trees of a sufficient growth which shall ensure their survival; and (vi)The Applicant shall continue to maintain the aforesaid trees for a period of two years after the transplantation or, as the case may be, uprooting of the trees. (b) A copy of the undertaking shall be supplied to the Petitioner and shall be placed on the record of these proceedings within a period of two weeks from today; (c) The Tree Officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation shall be personally responsible for ensuring the proper transplantation of trees and the maintenance of both the trees PNP 3 CAI101-8.7.sxw which are to be replanted and the trees which are to be transplanted. Subject to the undertaking being filed in the aforesaid terms, permission is granted to the Municipal Corporation. The Civil Application is disposed of. (Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, J.) (Anoop V. Mohta J.)