MUMBAI, July 3 -- The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to consider the survey report filed by an intervenor in March 2025, alleging that the civic body relied on inaccurate data and continued with road concretisation work in violation of environmental norms, which was hurting the city's trees. A division bench of Justice A S Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata heard the intervenor's report while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist Rohit Joshi in 2023. The litigation highlighted the failure of the Tree Authority and the BMC to preserve and maintain trees, and emphasised on de-concretisation to avoid instances of trees collapsing and causing deaths and injuries to pedestrians. During the hearing, the court also directed the intervenor, Sagar Ugale, to submit the findings and suggestions to BMC and file a detailed report, highlighting how the survey was conducted. Ugale, an environmental activist and RTI applicant, said BMC's de-concretisation work had been a mere "formality" and done without adhering to the prescribed guidelines. He also alleged "gross violation of the applicable rules, regulations, and guidelines" issued by respective authorities. Ugale added that BMC had filed false affidavits before the court concerning the progress of de-concretisation of trees - evidenced by the reports obtained by him under the Right to Information (RTI) Act which do not match the figures furnished before the court. On the other hand, Joshi's PIL highlighted several incidents of tree fall that injured or killed citizens in Thane. It underscored how concrete around growing roots weaken trees, which become prone to collapsing. The PIL referenced circulars issued by the Thane Municipal Corporation in 2016, 2018 and 2023 on how to protect trees during construction of roads, which had been ignored....