The Tree Authority (TA) of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will finally appoint experts by next week before the code of conduct for general elections comes into effect. The authority that grants permission to cut trees for various infrastructure projects had stopped giving permits since October 2018 after the High Court had issued directions. This had led to various infrastructure projects, including the metro construction work, being stalled for more than four months. The BMC published an advertisement to appoint experts for the Tree Authority with the final date of application as February 25. Usually, it takes more than a few months to scrutinise the names and table the proposal in the Tree Authority meeting. However, this time, the BMC officers are in a real hurry to complete the procedure and will table the proposal within a week. This will be done to complete pending work before the code of conduct for the general elections comes into effect. The Lok Sabha election is around the corner and the code of conduct will be, presumably, declared before the second week of March. If the appointment of tree experts is not done before that then, the Tree Authority will not be able to take decisions until the end of May. This, in turn, will badly impact big infrastructure projects like the metro work. The BMC officers are not ready to speak on the procedure and its progress. According to sources, there is a possibility that four experts will be selected and appointed. The High Court had earlier held that the Tree Authority was constituted illegally without any experts and had restrained the body from granting permissions for cutting or transplanting trees. The Tree Authority consists of 15 members including 13 corporators, chairman of the Garden Department and the commissioner of BMC. However, new rules were introduced on December 14, 2009, which mandated that a member of the TA, must be a registered member of the government's Social Forestry Department. The Social Forestry Department has no NGO registered with them. This gives rise to a technical issue, as most municipal corporations are located within city limits. Later, the authority was formed without experts. As per The Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act 1975, a Tree Authority (TA) should consist of not less than 5 members and not more than 15 members from among its staff. The commissioner of the corporation is the chairman of TA. Every tree authority may nominate representatives of non-official organisations, who have special knowledge or practical experience in the field of planting and preservation of trees. According to GR on Dec 14, 2009 Person to be nominated as representative of NGO on tree authority have to be an active member of the registered non-government organization of Government Social Forestry Department.

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