Delhi HC seeks report on inclusion of forest under regularized area in national capital

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the chief forest conservator of the forest department to clarify whether any encroached forest is included in recently regularized 1,731 colonies area in the national capital.

A bench by Justices G S Sistani and Anup J Bhambhani asked the forest department to file an affidavit in this regard by January 23, next year. The hearing on the matter will take place the same day.

The court was hearing a public suit initiated by it in 2015 on the issue of poor air quality in the national capital.

The court's query came after Amicus Curiae Kailash Vasudev, who was appointed to assist the court in the case, raised apprehension that encroached forest area could get regularized under the Centre's regularization policy.

Meanwhile, the chief forest conservator, who was present in the court, said none of the encroached forest areas has been included in the regularization policy.

The Parliament had earlier this month passed a bill that provides a legal framework for the regularisation of 1,731 colonies in Delhi.

In the last hearing, the court had directed the city government to prepare an action plan for removing encroachment in forest areas and submit it before Special Task Force (STF), dealing with encroachment issues in the national capital.

The court said that removing encroachment from forest areas will give space to plant more trees, restore forest areas and it will provide a long term solution to reduce air pollution.