"Planting of trees will bring down AQI": Supreme Court on Delhi Ridge issue

The Supreme Court today remarked that plating of trees is one of the most effective and long term solution for bringing down the AQI in the Delhi NCR region.

This remark came to be made by the Chief Justice of India while hearing a mentioning concerning the appointment of environmental experts in a matter relating to tree-felling in the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) ridge area.

Just yesterday, the CJI led bench had allowed Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to widen a road in the Southern Ridge near Chhattarpur to allow central armed paramilitary forces to fully access a multi-specialty hospital in the area.

Court allowed DDA’s application seeking diversion of 2.97 hectares of forest land for road construction, completion of road work on 0.79 hectares of morphological ridge, felling of 152 trees, and translocation of more than 2,500 tree saplings and shrubs planted along the road. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the DDA.

SG Mehta had informed the court that the Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFIMS) is currently providing out-patient department (OPD) services, but full-fledged functioning is not possible until the access road is widened to 30 metres to enable smooth movement of ambulances and patients. "Even if it is to be increased to 50 metres, we will not stop it because it is for the paramilitary forces," the bench said in response.

While allowing the DDA’s application, the court directed that for every tree felled, five saplings must be planted. It clarified that this plantation would be over and above the earlier May 2025 order directing the planting of 1.62 lakh saplings.

In May last year, the Supreme Court of India had in the Delhi Ridge contempt case held that willful and deliberate disregard of its orders by public officials cannot be viewed as routine disobedience but must be recognized as a serious affront to the Rule of Law itself.

These observations came to be made by the top court while it held the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and certain officials guilty of criminal contempt of court for willfully violating judicial orders by illegally felling trees in the ecologically sensitive Delhi Ridge area for a road widening project linked to the CAPFIMS Paramilitary Hospital. The bench observed that the instant case reflected “institutional lapses and administrative overreach,” where statutory permissions were bypassed, court orders flouted, and environmental damage inflicted.

Noting that public authorities and public servants are duty-bound to act in the furtherance of public interest, with every action aligned to subserve the common good, court added that if there is even an attempt to exhibit wilful and deliberate disregard for the orders of this Court, such conduct would not merely amount to contempt in the narrow sense defined under statute, rather, it has a cascading effect—it fosters a perception that judicial directives can be defied with impunity.

The Court had divided the conduct of the respondents into two categories: (1) failure to obtain prior permission before commencing tree-felling, and (2) a deliberate suppression of the fact that the tree-felling had already taken place, even while proceedings were pending.

While acknowledging that the broader objective behind the project was to facilitate transport access for a paramilitary hospital, a matter of public interest, the Court noted that “access to quality medical care is a necessity, not a privilege,” especially for military personnel and their families, “who often remain voiceless.” Nonetheless, the Court made clear that “public interest cannot justify contempt of court or environmental degradation.”

Key directions included: Identification of a suitable parcel of land for afforestation, to be reported to the Committee, a one-time levy on the identified beneficiaries of the road widening project, proportionate to construction costs, a joint plan by the DDA and Forest Department to enhance and maintain Delhi’s green cover and periodic compliance reports to be filed before the Court.

Case Title: Bindu Kapurea vs. Subhashish Panda and others

Bench: CJI Kant, Justice Bagchi and Justice Pancholi

Hearing Date: February 20, 2026