No axe without ask: High court halts tree felling across Haryana

Just over three months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed that trees would not be felled across Punjab without the court’s prior permission, a division bench today ordered the axe to fall silent in Haryana as well. Acting on a petition filed in public interest, the bench restrained the felling of trees anywhere in Haryana without the court’s prior permission after noticing that the state had the lowest forest cover in the country.The directions came while taking up a public interest petition seeking 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”. The bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu also stayed the felling of trees in the present matter. Senior advocate Anand Chhibbar, along with counsel Karan Gaba, Ateevraj Sandhu and Vijiyesh Malhotra appeared for the petitioners, while the Centre was represented by Additional Solicitor-General of India Satya Pal Jain appeared for theThe petition, filed in public interest by 21 persons had — among other things — challenged forest clearances granted for a major highway project cutting through the Tricity’s last surviving green belt. Directions were also sought 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 hovered 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 petitioners 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.

No axe without ask: High court halts tree felling across Haryana

The challenge in the petition hovered around the proposed 6-lane Zirakpur bypass/access-controlled spur connectivity project — part of Tricity Ring Road — undertaken by NHAI

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

No axe without ask: High court halts tree felling across Haryana

The challenge in the petition hovered around the proposed 6-lane Zirakpur bypass/access-controlled spur connectivity project — part of Tricity Ring Road — undertaken by NHAI

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

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