The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) was urged by the Delhi High Court on Friday to examine whether it is possible to develop a 55-acre plot of land that it has designated as a “dense forest.”
A petition concerning permits given by the relevant tree officials to fell trees without giving spoken directions was being heard by the HC.
A single-judge panel led by Justice Jasmeet Singh noted an affidavit submitted by the DDA during the hearing on Friday. According to this statement, the 55-acre property would be divided into three zones: an inner (core), middle, and periphery zone.
According to the affidavit, there would be “dense plantations” in the roughly 19-acre core zone, and “comparatively regulated human involvement with passive recreational activity” in the approximately 18-acre intermediate zone. Additionally, it says that there will be an approximately 18-acre peripheral zone with full access for tourists, a “active recreational face of an urban forest” where people can “socialize” and possibly “house restaurants, picnic spots etc.”
In response to Justice Singh’s question on whether or not an urban forest has been defined, the court was informed that an urban forest is one that is located within of a city.
After that, the HC declared in person that Delhi did not require an ornamental park. A forest is necessary.
“This is unacceptable,” the magistrate declared.
The DDA’s evidence, according to Justice Singh, “seems to suggest” that the court’s previous judgment has been “totally misunderstood.”
The HC had requested an affidavit containing “details, coordinates and steps to be taken for developing” the land as forest in a previous hearing, after DDA’s attorney’s statement that an area had been designated for development as a forest.
The DDA’s affidavit “seemed to suggest that a park with ornamental plants” was being built, the court stated. This was refuted by DDA’s attorney, who claimed that the park was not ornamental.
Subsequently, Justice Singh requested that the DDA turn the entire 55 acres into a core area. It also requested that the authorities think about designating a bigger area in Delhi for a forest.
It is scheduled for May 17.
The “felling of 1,000 trees,” including in the Southern Ridge, had already been noted by the HC in connection with the construction of an approach road between Chattarpur Road and SAARC University close to Maidan Garhi. The principal secretary of the Delhi government’s Forest Department and the ice-chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had previously received contempt summons from the court for disobeying earlier directives.
