Conserving Delhi Ridge: NGT Issues Notice To Oversight Committee Members

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought the response of the members of a committee, formed earlier to monitor the progress of the efforts being made to protect and conserve the Ridge area in Delhi.

The Ridge is an extension of the Aravalli Hill range in Delhi and is a rocky, hilly and forested area. It has been divided into four zones -- south, south-central, central and north -- for administrative reasons. These zones make up a total area of around 7,784 hectares.

In January 2021, the tribunal constituted the Oversight Committee (OC) to monitor the progress regarding the removal of encroachments from the Ridge, the area's protection by fencing and the preparation of a management plan for its restitution.

The committee comprised the forest director general of the Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), deputy commissioners of the areas concerned and representatives of the Delhi police commissioner and Forest Survey of India.

In an order passed on November 20, a bench of NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava took note of the submissions of the amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the case, according to which the Delhi government did not comply with the tribunal's direction to issue a notification.

The green body had directed the city government to notify within three months as reserved forest those areas of the Ridge that the government held or knew as part of the Ridge.

The previous order said: "The land about which there is clarity can be included in such notification and the remaining process can be undergone separately but expeditiously. No non-forest activity is permissible in the Ridge area." The bench, also comprising judicial member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel, noted the submissions of the amicus curiae about the committee not following the tribunal's earlier directions regarding monitoring the steps to remove encroachments and not conducting a meeting each month.

"Let the notice be issued to the members of the oversight committee.... The committee is directed to file the report at least one week before the next date of hearing, disclosing in detail the action which has been taken by it in pursuance of the direction of the tribunal," the NGT said.

The matter has been posted for further hearing on February 17.

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