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Thank you Aditi Shekar, aditi.shekar@​hindustantimes.com, for reporting this on 2nd December 2025: The Bombay High Court has ordered the state forest department to tighten and reform how it monitors the cutting and replanting of mangroves for development projects. This comes after the bench found major lapses between the permissions granted by the court and the corresponding on-ground afforestation.

A division bench of justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale was hearing a plea filed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) seeking permission to cut mangroves for installing Extra High Voltage (EHV) towers and transmission lines at the Kasheli Depot. Under a 2018 order to protect mangroves, such permissions must come from the court.

In response, the court laid down a detailed set of directions that will now apply to all projects involving the axing mangroves. The new orders say that mangroves must first be planted close to the affected site before any mangrove chopping is allowed. The court added that the funds allotted for compensatory afforestation must only be used for that specific project. The bench also asked authorities to identify and safeguard pieces of land which can be used for future mangrove plantations.

The bench said, “Sustainable development has been a matter of great concern for all, whether environmentalists or the courts. The apex court has consistently observed that development and environment must go hand in hand. In other words, there should not be development at the cost of the environment and that development can take place only after ensuring that as far as possible, the environment is safeguarded.”

The court also directed that mangrove plantations must follow the “land-for-land” and “tree-for-tree” principle, meaning mangroves cut in a coastal, brackish zone must be replaced with mangroves in a similar coastal environment. The court also said that environmental permissions should be sought for the entire project and not in a “piecemeal manner”. This way the court and the relevant authorities will be aware of the total number of trees likely to be affected by a project.

The bench ordered the state to create a public website within six weeks showing project-wise mangrove data for the past 10 years. The website must include the number of chopped mangroves, their species, the affected areas, the permissions given, the compensatory plantation sites, as well as geo-tagged photos, survival rates of replanted mangroves and compliance reports. The site must be updated every four months, the court added.

The bench also pointed to several recent projects like the Metro Line 4 work, where mangroves have been cut but compensatory afforestation remains incomplete or delayed.

Environmental activist and director of Vanakshakti, an NGO committed to environmental conservation, said, “Agencies keep cutting mangroves and then claim they are compensating by planting ordinary trees in places like Dhule. Mangroves can only be replaced with mangroves on brackish-water land.”

The court will now list this matter every four months to review whether its orders are being followed.