But when I tried the same with other data I have. tree$variable.importance returns NULL. Any specific reason for that. I was getting NaN for variable importance using "rf" method in caret. varImp() was used.
Can you please provide a minimal reprex (reproducible example)? The goal of a reprex is to make it as easy as possible for me to recreate your problem so that I can fix it: please help me help you!
If you've never heard of a reprex before, start by reading "What is a reprex", and follow the advice further down that page.