Need to get out of mindset that only Delhi requires greenery: Supreme Court

New Delhi: There is a need to get out of the mindset that only the national capital needs to have greenery and other states are lesser mortals, the Supreme Court said on Monday while hearing a matter related to the Delhi Ridge.

The Ridge is an extension of the Aravalli Hill range in Delhi and is a rocky, hilly and forested area. For administrative reasons, it has been divided into four zones -- south, south-central, central and north -- which make up an area of around 7,784 hectares.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi observed there was a need to have a holistic approach on the issue of green cover.

"We need to get out of this mindset that only Delhi, being the national capital, needs to have greenery and the others are lesser mortals," the bench observed.

Senior advocate K Parameshwar, assisting the top court as an amicus curiae in the matter, pointed to the November 11 verdict of the apex court which directed the Centre to give statutory status to the Delhi Ridge Management Board (DRMB) and make it the single-window authority for all matters related to the Ridge and Morphological Ridge.

The top court had then directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to formally constitute the DRMB under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

The reconstituted DRMB would include top officials from both the Centre and the Delhi government, senior representatives from urban and forest departments, and members from two NGOs.

A representative of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) would also be a member, ensuring coordination and accountability.

During the hearing on Monday, the counsel appearing for the Centre said that a notification was issued constituting the DRMB on December 1 last year.

The bench directed the Centre to place on record an affidavit along with the details of the constitution of statutory or non-statutory committees dealing with the management of forest and green areas and/or related to environmental issues.

The top court said such information was necessitated in order to delineate the area of operations and further to identify overlapping, if any.

It said the affidavit would also explain the statutory framework under which different bodies were constituted.

The bench said the affidavit be filed within two weeks and the matter would be heard after that.

During the hearing, the bench was told that various committees were looking into the issue of green cover in the national capital and across the country.

It was informed that while DRMB is tasked with conserving and managing the Delhi Ridge area, the CEC deals with environment conservation and green cover across the country.

"If the CEC can handle it for the entire country, why can't it handle it for Delhi? What is so special about Delhi?" the bench asked.

It sought to know how many statutory and non-statutory bodies were there on the issue concerning green cover and what was their area of functioning.

The November 11 last year verdict was delivered in the long-standing environmental case, TN Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India.