The Supreme Court on Monday took a step towards preserving Delhi’s green cover, urging the Delhi government to initiate the process for declaring an area of 185 acres in the Capital as “forest”.The land parcels are spread over different locations in Rohini, Narela, Dwarka, Alipur, Satbari, Maidan Garhi. (HT Archive)This area, spread over 18 land parcels across the Capital, is the site earmarked for compensatory afforestation of Ridge land illegally cleared by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) as part of a road construction project near Chhattarpur.Monitoring the progress of the plantation exercise, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said, “The process to notify the 18 parcels of land as forest shall also be initiated.”Directing another status report to be submitted after four weeks, the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, said, “We want you (forest department) to find out if the land parcels can be declared as forest. That will help you against any future exploitation of the land.”The land parcels are spread over different locations in Rohini, Narela, Dwarka, Alipur, Satbari, Maidan Garhi, said a status report filed jointly by the DDA and the Delhi government’s forest department in court.The DDA, represented by senior advocate Maninder Singh said that out of the targeted number of over 172,000 saplings across the 18 sites, more than 139,000 have been planted, leaving just 15% more saplings to be planted. He stated that this exercise will be completed by the end of next month.The information was filed in a contempt petition filed by Delhi resident Bindu Kapurea against illegal felling of trees by DDA on Ridge land in violation of a 1996 top court order requiring prior permission from the court to fell any trees in the Ridge area, which serves as Delhi’s green lung.Representing Kapurea, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appearing along with advocate Manan Verma cited the court’s May 28, 2025, judgment disposing the contempt petition with a direction to DDA to plant over 172,000 saplings as compensation for the trees illegally felled.Sankaranarayanan pointed out that as per information received, the DDA intends to declare nine out of the 18 sites as “recreational” land. Presently, he said, these areas have been named “oxygen parks”. With time, he argued the land use of these sites could change or it may be encroached upon.The DDA pointed out that the boundary wall around these lands is complete and there is a portal operating to monitor and supervise the plantation work. The court suggested that the next status report specifies the health and survival of saplings.In addition, an expert committee constituted by the court comprising former chief conservator forests MD Sinha, ex-principal chief conservator of forests Sunil Limaye, and environmentalist Pradip Kishen are monitoring and supervising earlier court orders and conducting site visits.It was on Kapurea’s petition, the court had ordered an enquiry and found DDA to be at fault as even without taking permission of the court, the DDA went ahead to fell more than 1,000 trees in the Ridge. DDA’s internal inquiry had named executive engineer Manoj Kumar Yadav, officials Pawan Kumar and Ayush Saraswat, and superintendent engineer Pankaj Verma for suppressing facts from the court.While the court held the DDA guilty of contempt by its May 2025 order, it spared action considering the larger public interest to be served by the road that seeks to provide connectivity to the CAPFIMS multi-specialty hospital. To prevent future violations, the bench mandated that all orders or notifications relating to tree felling, afforestation, or construction activity with ecological impact must explicitly mention pending cases before the court.