Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a landmark stay order prohibiting the felling of any trees across the state of Haryana without prior judicial permission. The ruling came during a hearing on a petition challenging the removal of thousands of trees for the construction of the proposed Zirakpur-Panchkula bypass. Expressing grave concern over the environmental impact, the court noted that these trees act as the vital “lungs” for the entire Tricity region and warned that their destruction would lead to an irreversible ecological crisis. The Bench underscored that Haryana’s forest cover has already plummeted to among the lowest levels in the country, necessitating immediate judicial intervention.
The court took a particularly dim view of the Haryana Forest Department’s compensatory afforestation proposal, which suggested planting replacement saplings in the Ferozepur region—nearly 300 kilometres away from the site of the bypass. Terming the plan illogical, the court questioned how distant plantations could possibly mitigate the immediate loss of local air quality and biodiversity in the Panchkula area. “Nature cannot be toyed with under the guise of development while we remain silent spectators,” the court remarked, rebuking the state administration for its apparent negligence in maintaining environmental equilibrium.
This blanket ban has effectively halted several major infrastructure projects across the state that involve large-scale clearing of green cover. The High Court has now directed the Haryana government and the relevant forest authorities to submit a comprehensive report detailing a sustainable balance between necessary development and environmental preservation. Legal experts suggest that this decision sets a significant precedent, signaling that administrative convenience will no longer override ecological safety. Until the court is fully satisfied with a viable and local afforestation strategy, the state’s remaining greenery will remain under strict judicial protection.
