Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: The Delhi forest and wildlife department has told National Green Tribunal that it will conduct the final notification of the Southern Ridge, spread over around 6,200 hectares, under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, in three phases.
The first phase encompasses roughly 3,300 hectares, for which a file has been recently submitted to Delhi govt for final notification. This portion comprises forest land without encroachment or any pending litigation. Under phase II, the department plans to notify areas where there is encroachment. The remaining parts of the Southern Ridge will be notified under phase III.
For a forest area to be given legal protection, it should be notified under Sections 4 and 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Though the ridge areas were notified under Section 4 in 1994, the final notification under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act was not done.
In a new report dated April 5, the forest department said: “A modified draft Phase I notification under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act for 3,287.07 hectares in the Southern Ridge Reserve forest has been again submitted through the proper channel for kind approval of Delhi govt on April 3, 2025.”
The report added that the first draft notification for nearly 3,630 hectares was first submitted in Feb 2021. Of these, 96 hectares in Chhatarpur and Rangpuri were approved for final notification, and the final notifications for these two villages were issued after approval in Jan 2022.
“In respect of the (remaining) 3,527 hectares, the draft notification was again submitted to the law department for vetting,” the report said. It added that the file was returned with objections in 2023, as certain villages were declared urban villages by DDA, whose comments were still awaited.
The report said urbanisation does not change the status of land designated as reserved forest. It has now decided to omit those villages for the time being and initiate the process of notifying the remaining 3,287 hectares.
The Southern Ridge is the most extensive, spread over 6,200 hectares of land.
Mayank Rawat
