PIL in HC challenges forest clearances for Tricity Ring Road Project, seeks halt on tree felling

Seeking an immediate judicial intervention to “stop the cutting of trees in the forest area of Punjab, trees of Panchkula Golf Course and trees falling under Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran in Sector-1A of Panchkula, Haryana”, a PIL has been filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging forest clearances granted for a major highway project cutting through the Tricity’s last surviving green belt.

The petition, filed in public interest by 21 persons through senior advocate Anand Chhibbar, has sought issuance of directions for immediate remedial action to halt tree felling, while also praying for quashing of the “Stage-I” forest clearance dated July 31, 2025, and “Stage-II” clearance dated January 8, 2026, along with all consequential approvals permitting diversion of 17.57 hectares (43.416 acres) of forest land.

The challenge in the petition hovers around the proposed 6-lane Zirakpur bypass/access-controlled spur connectivity project — part of Tricity Ring Road —undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The petitioners asserted that the project, spanning approximately 19.2 km, would cut through ecologically fragile zones, including Punjab forest patches, the Ghaggar riverine belt, dense scrub forests in Panchkula, Sector-1A green belt and Panchkula Golf Course.

Flagging large-scale ecological damage, the plea stated that more than 5,000 mature trees — many between 20 to 30 years old — were slated to be felled. This included over 2,000 trees from notified forest land in Punjab, more than 2,200 trees from Panchkula Golf Course and around 1,000 trees from Sector-1A and adjoining green belts.

Calling into question the project design, the petition contended that the “partially elevated” corridor was illusory, as its proposed height of 5.5-6 metres was significantly lower than the height of mature trees (8-15 metres), making large-scale felling inevitable even in elevated stretches.

The plea further asserted that the alignment sliced through what it terms as one of the last continuous green lungs of the Tricity region. Panchkula Golf Course alone, spread across about 124 acres and housing nearly 14,000 trees, was described as a principal urban ecological asset. The proposed alignment, it was argued, would cut across five fairways, rendering the course dysfunctional and impacting more than 2,500 members.

Raising constitutional concerns, the petition asserted that the clearances violated the mandate under Articles 21, 48A and 51A(g), stressing that the right to life included the right to a “clean, healthy and pollution-free environment”. It further invoked established environmental jurisprudence while stating:

“The impugned project violates the constitutional mandate… and runs contrary to environmental jurisprudence… which recognise the precautionary principle, sustainable development, public trust doctrine and intergenerational equity as integral to Indian environmental law.”

Questioning the compensatory mechanism, the plea termed afforestation proposed in Ferozepur — over 240 km away — as illusory, asserting that mature ecosystems could not be replaced by saplings. It warned:

“Mature trees cannot be substituted by saplings which take decades to attain ecological equivalence and often suffer high mortality.”

The petition also placed the issue in a broader environmental context, pointing out that Punjab and Haryana hade forest and tree cover of just 3.67 per cent and 3.65 per cent, respectively — far below the national average of 21.71 per cent and the 33 per cent benchmark under the National Forest Policy. It termed further diversion of forest land as “ecological regression of alarming magnitude”.

The plea also proposed alternative alignments, including rerouting the project to connect with existing highways or along the Ghaggar riverbed, arguing that such options would preserve critical green zones without compromising connectivity.