India, June 25 -- Six months after the Bombay High Court permitted the felling of 45,675 mangroves for the proposed Versova Bhayandar Coastal Road citing "demonstrably required public interest", the court on Wednesday sought a status report from the state government on compensatory afforestation linked to the project.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Gautam A Ankhad said that since the afforestation process had already commenced - as mentioned in the court's December 2025 order allowing the felling of mangroves - the concerned forest authority should place a status report before the court first.

The court was hearing an interim application moved by the nonprofit Vanashakti, expressing the need for an...