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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court, on Friday last week, observed that the city would inevitably become a barren desert if the current generation maintained its indifferent attitude towards deforestation. Such observations were made in multiple petitions addressing concerns about the alarming deforestation of the city's deemed forests.

The court instructed the Department of Forest & Wildlife to ensure that all necessary arrangements for the Chairperson and the 'Special Empowered Committee' are fully operational by July 29, 2024.

“It is not far to see the day when this City may be only a barren desert, in case the present generation continues an apathetic view on the deforestation”, the bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela held. 

A writ petition was filed expressing concerns over Delhi's increasing demarcation of deemed forests. In response, the high court had directed all land-owning agencies to submit a status report in September 2023, detailing the protected and deemed forest land under their control and management. 

Advocate R.A. Iyer, representing the Chairperson-Internal Departmental Committee, notified the court regarding the requirement of infrastructure, along with the Secretarial Support Staff, Transportation, etc to efficiently discharge duties. 

P. Viswakannan, Chief Conservator of Forest, informed that the approval for these requirements was submitted to the Minister of the General Administration Department, GNCT of Delhi. Following this, the requirements were to be presented to the Cabinet and then to the Lieutenant Governor for final approval before implementation.

Advocate Aditya N. Prasad, representing the petitioner, presented a brief abstract of the second report by the Committee, which suggested that if there were delays, the necessary staff and infrastructure could be temporarily provided in a diverted capacity until proper arrangements were made.

“This Court cannot countenance a situation where the learned Chairperson is unable to discharge the responsibilities on account of lack of an Office Space or a Secretarial and Support Staff or even Transportation”, the court added. 

Rather than instructing the Department to divert staff, the court deemed it appropriate to direct the Department to earnestly pursue the matter and ensure that approval was not delayed beyond June 15, 2024. Upon approval by the Competent Authority, the infrastructure development was to be completed within the following 15 days. 

The court accepted Advocate Prasad’s suggestion to rename the Committee as the ‘Special Empowered Committee’ (SEC) instead of the ‘Internal Departmental Committee’ to reflect its independence from the Department’s purview. The court added, “‘Special Empowered Committee’ is a Committee which has independent reference powers as conferred on it and will discharge its responsibilities accordingly”. 

Accordingly, the court instructed the department to file a compliance report by July 10, 2024, and listed the matter for July 29, 2024. 

Case Title: Neeraj Sharma v Union Of India & Ors (W.P.(C) 7253/2023)