A bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to expedite the decision on the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) application for clearance. The judges stressed the need to balance development with environmental and forest conservation.
“We direct that the project shall not commence unless environmental clearance is granted by the EIA authority,” the bench stated. It also urged the MoEFCC to decide the application swiftly, noting that the project has been pending for a long period.
The petitions were filed by environmentalist Sushma Date and the Indian Law Society, which owns a major portion of the affected land. Date’s counsel, Senior Advocate Anitha Shenoy, argued that the proposed alignment cuts through a “virgin forest hill” hosting more than 400 tree species and a natural aquifer that recharges groundwater in western Pune.
She pointed out that the PMC’s own consultants found a one-season environmental study inadequate, recommending instead a comprehensive four-season EIA to assess the area’s biodiversity and hydrology.
Defending the project, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the PMC, said the road is part of Pune’s approved development plan and does not require a separate EC. He claimed the design was carefully adjusted to minimise ecological disturbance, stating that it only touches the hill’s lower contours, not its peak.
However, the bench questioned this reasoning, observing that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had previously held that a similar alignment required a full EIA. “If the NGT required an EIA for another road on the same alignment, why not for this one?” the bench asked.
Representing the Indian Law Society, Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat informed the court that a 2005 Bombay High Court order maintaining status quo on the society’s land acquisition challenge is still in effect. He emphasised that ILS Hill has been preserved for nearly a century through afforestation efforts and is one of Pune’s last remaining green lungs.
The case underscores the ongoing tension between urban infrastructure expansion and environmental preservation, especially in rapidly developing cities such as Pune.
