SC Urges Delhi Govt to Declare 185 Acres Across Dwarka and Other Areas as Forest
The Supreme Court on Monday urged the Delhi government to initiate the process of declaring 185 acres of land across 18 parcels—including sites in Dwarka, Rohini, Narela, Alipur, Satbari, and Maidan Garhi—as official "forest" to protect the green spaces from future exploitation. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, asked the forest department to assess if the land can be declared as forest and directed a new status report to be submitted after four weeks.
The 18 land parcels were designated for compensatory afforestation after the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) illegally felled more than 1,000 trees on protected Ridge land near Chhattarpur as part of a road construction project. The road project was designed to provide connectivity to the CAPFIMS multi-specialty hospital. The top court had previously ordered the DDA to plant over 172,000 saplings across the 18 locations to compensate for the illegal tree felling.
During Monday's court proceedings, senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the DDA, submitted a joint status report filed with the Delhi government's forest department. He informed the bench that over 139,000 saplings have already been planted across the sites, completing 85 percent of the target. Singh stated that the remaining 15 percent of the plantation exercise will be completed by the end of next month. The DDA added that boundary walls around the land parcels are finished and an online portal is operational to monitor the work.
The directions were issued during hearings on a contempt petition filed by Delhi resident Bindu Kapurea against the DDA for felling trees on Ridge land in violation of a 1996 Supreme Court order. Representing Kapurea, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing with advocate Manan Verma, pointed out that the DDA intends to designate nine of the 18 sites as "recreational" land named "oxygen parks." Sankaranarayanan argued that this classification leaves the sites vulnerable to future land-use changes or encroachment.
To ensure proper oversight, the Supreme Court suggested that the next status report specifically detail the health and survival rate of the planted saplings. Progress is also being supervised by a court-appointed expert committee comprising former chief conservator of forests MD Sinha, former principal chief conservator of forests Sunil Limaye, and environmentalist Pradip Kishen.
An internal inquiry by the DDA previously identified executive engineer Manoj Kumar Yadav, officials Pawan Kumar and Ayush Saraswat, and superintendent engineer Pankaj Verma for suppressing facts from the court regarding the illegal felling. While the court held the DDA guilty of contempt in May 2025, it spared further action due to the public interest involved in the hospital road project, while mandating strict disclosure requirements for all future projects impacting green cover.
