New Delhi, Mar, 16
Advocating a holistic approach to the issue of green cover, the Supreme Court on Monday said there was a need to get out of the mindset that only Delhi needed to have greenery.
“We need to get out of this mindset that only Delhi, being the national capital, needs to have greenery and the others are lesser mortals,” a Bench led by CJI Surya Kant said while hearing a Delhi Ridge-related case.
An extension of Aravalli Hill range, the Delhi Ridge is a rocky, hilly and forested area spread over 7,784 hectares which has been divided into four zones — south, south-central, central and north — for administrative reasons.
Amicus curiae and senior advocate K Parameshwar drew the court’s attention to its November 11 verdict directing the Centre to give statutory status to the Delhi Ridge Management Board (DRMB) and make it a single-window authority for all matters related to the Ridge and Morphological Ridge. Without legal protection and effective governance the Ridge’s ecological integrity would be severely compromised, it had said.
On Monday, the Bench was told that various committees were looking into the issue of green cover in the national capital and across India.
“If the CEC can handle it for the entire country, why can’t it handle it for Delhi? What is so special about Delhi?” the Bench wondered as it sought to know how many statutory and non-statutory bodies were there on green cover and what their areas of functioning were.
“We are of the view that without proper statutory protection, it would not be possible to properly preserve the integrity of the Ridge,” a Bench led by the then CJI BR Gavai had said, ordering removal of encroachments from the area.
The non-notification of Ridge as a reserve forest deprived the said area of any protection, it had noted in the verdict aimed at protecting the “green lungs” of the national capital. It had asked the DRMB “to actively work towards protecting and preserving the Delhi Ridge after its due identification”.
The Bench had ordered the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to formally constitute the Delhi Ridge Management Board under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The reconstituted DRMB will include top officials from both the Centre and Delhi government, senior representatives from urban and forest departments, and members from two NGOs. A representative of the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) will also be a member, ensuring coordination and accountability, it had directed.
The DRMB will act as a single-window authority for all matters concerning the Ridge and Morphological Ridge, remove encroachments and prevent further fragmentation and work for restoration and conservation of the Ridge through scientific and ecological measures, it had said.
As the Centre’s counsel on Monday said that a notification was issued constituting the DRMB on December 1, 2025, the Bench directed it to file an affidavit giving details of the constitution of statutory or non-statutory committees dealing with the management of forest and green areas and/or related to environmental issues.
Such information was necessitated in order to delineate the area of operations and further to identify overlapping, if any, it said, adding the affidavit should be filed in two weeks explaining the statutory framework under which different bodies were constituted.
