Tree NOC and cutting permission: the Tree Authority approval before a tree is touched.
In an urban area governed by tree legislation, no tree may be felled without permission from the Tree Authority, and the permission comes with compensatory plantation obligations attached.
What it is
The Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act 1975 places felling in urban areas under the Tree Authority constituted by the municipal corporation or council. An application is made tree-wise on the enumerated register, with the reason for removal, the site plan, and a transplantation proposal for trees that can be moved; the process usually includes public notice or objection, site inspection, and a decision that fixes compensatory plantation and charges.
KIPL prepares and pursues the application: the enumeration behind it, the justification tree by tree, the transplantation case wherever a tree is movable, the compensatory plantation proposal, and the follow-through to the sanction order and its conditions. Removing a tree without that order is an offence, and it also surfaces later as a compliance problem on the project file.
What you get
The deliverables, in hand.
- Authority
- Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act 1975 · Tree Authority
- Typical timeline
- By the Tree Authority's process; notice and meeting cycle
- Tree-wise application to the Tree Authority on the enumerated register
- Justification for removal and transplantation proposal where feasible
- Site plan showing affected trees against the proposed layout
- Public notice, objection handling and site inspection coordination
- Compensatory plantation proposal and charges computation
- The sanction order with its conditions, and compliance advice on them
Straight answers
Tree NOC & Cutting Permission: common questions.
01Who grants permission to cut a tree in a city?
The Tree Authority of the local body, the municipal corporation or council, constituted under the applicable tree legislation. In Maharashtra that is the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act 1975. Permission is granted tree-wise, and normally with conditions.
02Is permission needed to cut a tree on private land?
In areas covered by the tree Act, yes. The protection attaches to the tree in the notified urban area, not to the ownership of the land, so a tree standing on private property still requires the Tree Authority's permission before it is felled. Ownership affects who applies, not whether permission is required.
03What is compensatory plantation?
It is the condition attached to a felling permission requiring new trees to be planted in place of those removed, at a ratio and specification the Tree Authority sets, often with a survival or maintenance obligation and sometimes a deposit. It is part of the permission, and non-performance is treated as a breach of the sanction.
04Is there a public notice or objection stage?
In many corporations, yes. The proposal is published or displayed and objections may be invited before the Tree Authority takes it up. This is one of the main reasons applications should be filed well ahead of the construction programme rather than when the machinery is already mobilised.
05Can a tree be transplanted instead of felled?
Where the species, age, girth, health and receiving site permit, transplantation is preferred and Tree Authorities increasingly expect it to be examined before felling is allowed. A transplantation feasibility assessment tree by tree is what makes that case credible rather than nominal.
06What happens if a tree is cut without permission?
It is an offence under the Act, exposing those responsible to penalty and prosecution, and it damages the project's standing with the authority for every subsequent application. It also tends to resurface at clearance compliance and in litigation, long after the site work is done.
07How long does a tree NOC take?
It follows the Tree Authority's own cycle: application scrutiny, site inspection, notice or objection period, and the Authority's meeting. The realistic answer is that it is measured in the authority's meeting calendar rather than in a fixed number of days, which is why it belongs early in the project programme.
Within Tree Management
Part of the whole route, the other components.
Relevant proof
Where this stage has already been delivered.
MCGM · Eastern Suburbs, Mumbai
MCGM GARDEN DEVELOPMENT- MIYAWAKI PLANTATION
Miyawaki dense forestation across 27 locations in 7 wards using native species, delivered under the municipal greening programme.
Where we do this
Tree Management on the ground.
The authority, the timeline and the local ground differ by city. These pages set out how tree management actually runs in each.
Featured projects
Work that carries its own evidence.
Our expertise
One team across the whole environmental brief.
Tree NOC & Cutting Permission is one stage of one practice. Most projects need several, and the commitments made at clearance are the ones we build and maintain.
Who we do this for
Tree Management reads differently by industry.
- 01
Real Estate & ConstructionCore
Nothing on site is felled or shifted until the Tree Authority issues its NOC under the Maharashtra Preservation of Trees Act 1975, and every corporation runs its own process.
Tree Management for Real Estate & Construction - 02
Municipal CorporationsCore
The Tree Authority under the Maharashtra Preservation of Trees Act 1975 needs census, valuation and transplant evidence to defend its decisions.
Tree Management for Municipal Corporations - 03
Townships & Area Development
Large land parcels carry existing tree stock; enumeration, transplant feasibility and Tree Authority NOC gate the earthworks programme.
Tree Management for Townships & Area Development - 04
Hospitality, Healthcare & Education
Mature institutional campuses expanding into their own grounds need enumeration, transplant feasibility and Tree Authority NOC before any block starts.
Tree Management for Hospitality, Healthcare & Education - 05
Logistics & Ports
Large land-side parcels carry standing tree stock, and enumeration plus Tree Authority NOC gates the platform and pavement works.
Tree Management for Logistics & Ports - 06
Industrial Corridors & MIDC
Greenfield land acquisition means large-scale enumeration, valuation and transplantation before the first trunk infrastructure is cut.
Tree Management for Industrial Corridors & MIDC - 07
Corporate Campuses
Campus expansion into its own grounds still needs enumeration, transplant feasibility and Tree Authority NOC before ground is broken.
Tree Management for Corporate Campuses
Trusted by
The organisations this work is done for.
In the press