New Delhi
The final notification of Delhi’s central, northern and south-central ridge under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, cannot be done as the demarcation of these forests remains pending, Delhi forest and wildlife department told the National Green Tribunal (NGT), citing ongoing litigations on forest land and multiplicity of agencies that need to carry out the groundwork of demarcation exercise.
Delhi’s ridges were notified under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, in 1994, declaring the total area as a protected forest. However, the final notification is to be done under Section 20 of the Act, which grants complete protection and defines the boundaries.
The forest department said multiple agencies, including the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Land And Development Office (L&DO) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), need to carry out the groundwork and that it has written to the revenue department for a joint inspection and subsequent demarcation to issue the final notification.
Delhi has four prominent ridges, with a total area of around 7,784 hectares under reserved forests. The largest, the Southern Ridge, is spread across 6,200 hectares. The next largest is the Central Ridge, with an area of 864 hectares, followed by the South-Central Ridge in Mehrauli spread across 626 hectares and the Northern Ridge spread across 87 hectares. Besides these, there are seven hectares under the Nanakpura South-Central Ridge.
The NGT has been hearing a plea filed by Delhi resident Sonya Ghosh in 2015, seeking protection of Delhi’s ridge areas. In her petition, Ghosh said large parts of Delhi’s southern ridge were encroached on, leading to the NGT issuing directions in 2017 for the removal of encroachments.
To be sure, the final notification under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, can only be issued once a forest settlement officer (FSO) checks and clears the same, indicating there is no encroachment or claim over a land parcel.
“A substantial portion of the ridge is under management of different management/land owning agencies like the DDA, L&DO, CPWD, MCD and others. Apart from the southern ridge, other ridges i.e south central ridge, northern, Nanakpura and central ridge are yet to be demarcated. The department has written a letter to the revenue department and other agencies for a joint demarcation on the ground,” the forest department said in an affidavit filed on March 18.
It also mentioned 74 land litigation cases at various courts, with stay orders granted over the removal of encroachments in multiple instances.
Anti-encroachment drives are underway only in the southern ridge, where demarcation was completed by the revenue department in 2019. Since then, over 91 hectares have been reclaimed, with 307 hectares still to be cleared of encroachments. The forest department said it wrote to the Delhi Police on January 8, seeking assistance from DCP (South) for the removal of structures.
“Learned Amicus Curiae appearing for the applicant submits that though the notification under Section 4 of The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was issued in 1994 but…the final notification under Section 20 of the Act has not been finalized till now,” said the NGT, observing the findings of the Amicus Curiae.
In the next hearing, the date for which is yet to be fixed, the NGT may issue directions to the revenue department and agencies concerned for action on clearing encroachments and demarcating ridge area.
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