Seven-member committee to approve roadside tree felling: High Court

The High Court has directed the formation of seven-member committees at city, district and upazila levels to grant permission for cutting roadside trees, aiming to curb environmental degradation and rising temperatures across the country.

The directives came following a public interest litigation filed in 2024 by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), an environmental and human rights organisation, seeking measures to prevent indiscriminate tree felling in urban and semi-urban areas.

After hearing the writ, a bench of Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Mubina Asaf earlier made the rule absolute, observing that excessive tree cutting disrupts ecological balance and threatens people’s right to life and good health.

The court noted that Bangladesh already has far fewer trees than required for environmental balance, making conservation essential.

The verdict instructed the Department of Environment to form, within seven days, a coordination committee in Dhaka comprising environmentalists, experts and professors from the environmental science departments of Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar Universitiy to approve tree felling.

The court also ordered the public administration ministry to issue circulars to form district-level committees consisting of the deputy commissioner, district environment officer, government college principal, social worker, environmentalist, district bar association representative and civil surgeon.

Similar committees were ordered at upazila level under the leadership of the UNO.

The court further ruled that trees planted under the Social Forestry Rules cannot be cut and instead compensation equal to the tree’s value must be paid to the planters, directing amendments to the rules if necessary.

Initially, government projects were exempted from the verdict, but HRPB filed a review petition challenging this provision.

After hearing the review, a bench of Justice Fahmida Kader and Justice Mohammad Asif Hasan on Thursday allowed the review petition and kept the verdict operative.

Senior Advocate Manzill Murshid represented HRPB, assisted by other counsels, while Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Shafiqul Rahman appeared for the state.

Manzil Murshid said: "A request was made on July 17 last year to amend and review this part of the judgment, which states that permission will not be required to cut trees for government projects."

"The court then issued a rule on the matter asking why permission should not be given from the relevant committee to cut trees in the city or on the side of the road for government projects. After the hearing, the High Court declared this rule as appropriate and gave its verdict. As a result, from now on, if trees in the city or on the side of the road need to be cut for government projects, permission from the committee will be required," he added.