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The Supreme Court Tuesday asked the Centre to give the Delhi Ridge Management Board (DRMB) for the conservation, protection and preservation of the Ridge area, statutory backing by notifying it under the Environment Protection Act, while underscoring the significance of the ridge area, which it said serves as the “green lungs” of the national capital.
A bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) “to constitute the DRMB by issuing notification under Section 3(3) of the EP Act.” The Board was constituted by an order of the Supreme Court in 1995.
The bench also directed the reconstitution of the Board, which currently has eight members, with 12 members, including a representative of the Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC).
“The Board shall act as a single-window authority insofar as the Delhi Ridge and the Morphological Ridge are concerned” and “must ensure the preservation of the Delhi Ridge and Morphological Ridge in its pristine glory by removing all encroachments and taking all necessary steps to improve the Ridge”, the bench directed.
The bench also stated that the Board, once established, would comprise a five-member Standing Committee with a member of the CEC serving as the chairperson.
The bench rued that the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) “has not acted with swiftness in protecting the Ridge”. “Though this court observed as early as May 1996 that the Government has not taken proper steps for conservation of the Ridge, not much has been done even after a lapse of almost three decades therefrom.”
“Though the total identified area (of the ridge) was 7,784 hectares, the final notification under Section 20 of the Forest Act has been issued only in respect of 103.48 hectares of land.”
“It cannot be gainsaid that the effect of non-notification of Ridge as a Reserve Forest deprives the said area of any protection. We are, therefore, of the view that without proper statutory protection, it would not be possible to properly preserve the integrity of the Ridge.”
The bench noted that if DRMB is given “statutory status, its orders can be judicially scrutinised either by the…National Green Tribunal…GT…and by this court…”.
The MoEF&CC opposed granting statutory status to DRMB, expressing apprehension that if the Centre issues a notification, there would be an overlap with other authorities.
Turning down the objection, the SC said, “We do not find any substance in the said submission of MoEF&CC. The very purpose of the earlier orders passed by this court and the present judgment is to avoid having multiple authorities considering the issue with regard to the Delhi Ridge”, and that “like the CEC, if the DRMB is also given a statutory status, it will be in a position to function effectively and also be accountable and answerable.”
