The Supreme Court has issued notices to panchayats of four Gurgaon villages and the Haryana Forest Development Corporation (HFDC) after learning that compensatory afforestation (CA) for a highway project, which involved felling 12,000 trees, had not begun. The CA was mandated two years ago following the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) tree felling to widen a 43km stretch of the Pataudi-Rewari-Gurgaon highway. The court had directed NHAI to implement CA within Gurgaon, but progress stalled due to delays in acquiring 110.3 hectares of land. The forest department identified 103.8 hectares in four villages, but panchayat consent is required to proceed. Environmentalists initially raised concerns about the proposed CA site in Panchkula, 300 km away, arguing it would not restore local green cover. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) ruled that the CA must occur within 10 km of the project site, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court. The case will be revisited on December 2.