03-07-2025
In key step before it can be notified as reserve forest, ground verification sought of 3,200 hectares of land in Southern Ridge
The Delhi Forest department has written to the district authorities seeking a ground verification of over 3,200 hectares of land in the Southern Ridge — a key step before notifying it as a reserve forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
In a compliance affidavit uploaded to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) website on Monday, the Forest department stated that it had submitted a revised draft notification for 3,287.076 hectares — spread across 12 villages including Asola, Bhatti, Dera Mandi, Jaunapur, and Tughlakabad — for government approval on April 3.
A high-level meeting was chaired by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena and attended by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and senior officials on May 23. In the meeting, it was decided that the Forest department, along with the Revenue department, would carry out a ground verification 'to reconfirm' that the land in Phase I is free of encroachments and under the clear possession of the Forest department.
On June 17, the Forest department wrote to the District Magistrates of South-East and New Delhi, requesting them to undertake the verification exercise 'on an immediate basis,' according to the affidavit filed by Deputy Conservator of Forests (Protection & Monitoring) Ankit Kumar.
The affidavit was filed in a matter ongoing since 2013, when petitioner Sonya Ghosh sought legal protection for the Ridge.
The NGT in January 2021 directed the Chief Secretary of the GNCTD 'to ensure that requisite notification…is issued within three months in respect of the area about which there is no controversy'.
The tribunal had noted that there is an 'urgent need to take necessary steps to protect the Ridge.' This, it said, would be enabled 'by taking necessary steps to finalise the notification under Section 20 of the Forest Act for reserved forest and protection by appropriate measures'. 'The land about which there is clarity can be included in such notification, and the remaining process can be undergone separately but expeditiously,' it said. It underlined that no non-forest activity is permissible in the Ridge area.
However, due to the pendency even after four years, the NGT in April this year noted that 'more than four years have passed' since its earlier directions to notify the Ridge's undisputed, unencroached portions under Section 20. The tribunal asked for the current status and a timeline for issuing the final notification.
Once completed, the notification will grant legal 'Reserve Forest' status to the Southern Ridge Phase I, shielding it from development and encroachment activities.
