New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Sunday took cognisance into the trees felling matter in Mumbai's Aarey Colony and said that a special bench will sit on Monday to hear the petition submitted by a group of law students protesting the action by the authorities.
The students staged protest against the axing of the trees by the authorities in Aarey colony for construction of a metro car shed.
The top court bench agreed to hear the matter after a letter was sent to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi by students to intervene in the matter.
"A special bench has been constituted to hear the matter tomorrow, October 7 at 10 am on the basis of a letter dated October 6 addressed by Rishav Ranjan with regard to the felling of trees in Aarey forest, Maharashtra which has been registered as a public interest litigation," the Supreme Court said in a notice.
Earlier in the day, a Mumbai court granted bail to the 29 protesters, who were arrested from Aarey for allegedly disturbing public order and obstructing government officials from performing their duties.
Advocate Aditya Bambulkar, who appeared for the accused, confirmed that they were granted conditional bail by the Dindoshi court on a cash bond of Rs 7,000 each and they have to appear at the police station for further inquiry.
The accused were arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
One of the family members of the arrested person said: "They have been charged under the worst sections of the IPC which will affect their career. Government has to understand that we are protecting our mother nature and we are not criminals."