The Bombay High Court has permitted the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to divert more than nine hectares of mangrove forest land and remove 208 mangrove trees for the construction of an eight-lane access-controlled highway connecting the upcoming Vadhavan Port in Palghar district to National Highway 48 (NH-48).
A division bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande observed that the highway project had secured all the necessary statutory approvals, including environmental, Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and forest clearances. The court also noted that the agency had fulfilled its compensatory afforestation obligations.
“In our view, the said project being of public utility, would provide connectivity to the Vadhavan Port, which is being developed as a major port on the landlord port development model, which would open an opportunity for India to make it into the countries with the top 10 container ports in the world,” the bench stated.
Vadhavan Port is being jointly developed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) and the Maharashtra Maritime Board as a strategically important national infrastructure project.
NHAI had sought the court’s permission because of directions issued under an ongoing public interest litigation (PIL) concerning mangrove protection, which require judicial approval before mangrove areas can be cleared, even for public infrastructure developments.
The issue arose after a joint site inspection conducted in December 2025 identified mangrove growth along sections of the proposed road and rail alignment. The court clarified that the affected mangroves are situated within the planned transport corridor and not within the port construction area.
Referring to the report submitted by a forest official, the bench observed that “mangroves felling is not required for port construction and that the area required for the road/rail are totally different.”
As part of its environmental mitigation measures, NHAI has undertaken compensatory afforestation by planting approximately 1.33 lakh mangroves across 30 hectares and has deposited more than Rs 4.83 crore towards afforestation requirements.
Source: Swarajya
