The Uttarakhand High Court has passed an interim order restraining the Mussoorie Municipality from cutting down any trees for its road-widening project without obtaining prior mandatory permissions from the Forest Department. The court’s intervention follows reports of illegal felling of Oak trees in a notified forest area.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay issued the directive while hearing a petition filed by Pravesh Singh Rana. The petitioner alleged that several Oak trees in the Husain Ganj area of Mussoorie were being cut down by the municipality under the guise of road expansion.
The matter was brought to the court’s attention through a petition highlighting environmental violations in Mussoorie’s sensitive forest zones. According to the petitioner, the municipality initiated tree-cutting activities in Husain Ganj—a notified forest area—to facilitate the widening of roads.
During the proceedings on Wednesday, the state government submitted a report based on an inspection conducted by the Forest Range Officer of Mussoorie on March 13. The inspection confirmed the petitioner’s concerns, revealing that four Oak trees and three other trees had been felled illegally. The government informed the bench that these actions were carried out without obtaining valid permission from the competent forest authorities.
In response to the unauthorized felling, the state government confirmed that challans have been issued against the individuals responsible. Investigations are currently underway, and legal cases remain pending against the concerned parties.
The Mussoorie Municipality informed the court that the road-widening work has been voluntarily halted pending the conclusion of the investigation.
The division bench has formally directed that no further trees shall be cut in the area without the explicit consent of the Forest Department. The court has granted all parties three weeks to file their detailed responses to the petition.
The matter is scheduled for its next hearing on April 27, where the court will further examine the state’s investigation and the municipality’s compliance with environmental regulations.
