Final notification of southern Ridge in the works, NGT told

Delhi’s forest and wildlife department has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that it will carry out the final notification of the southern Ridge under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 — a long-pending move that declares a land as a protected forest and defines its total area.

According to an affidavit by the department dated April 5, the notification of the 6,200-hectare green space will take place in three phases, with the first phase consisting of 3, 3,287.07 hectares of land that is both free of any encroachment and also has no pending or ongoing litigation cases.

“A modified draft Phase-1 notification under section 20 of the Indian Forest Act for 3,287.07 hectares in the Southern Ridge Reserve forest has been again submitted for through the proper channel for kind approval of the Government of NCT of Delhi on April 3, 2025,” the submission stated.

Officials said the file for phase one has been submitted to the Delhi government. Earlier, in February 2021, the department had submitted a draft notification for nearly 3,630 hectares of the southern Ridge, but the final file submitted on April 3 removed certain patches from this phase.

“That in respect of the (remaining) 3,527 hectares, the draft notification was again submitted to the law department for vetting,” the submission said, stating the file was returned with objections in 2023, as certain villages under the southern ridge were declared as urban villages by the DDA, whose comments are still awaited. It has now chosen to omit those villages for the time being, notifying the remaining 3,287 hectares,” the submission said.

The department will notify around 1,500 hectares of land — parts of which are tied up in litigation — under phase two, while the remaining land will be notified in phase three, the April 5 submission stated.

The submission was part of an NGT hearing based on a plea filed by Delhi resident Sonya Ghosh in 2015, seeking protection of Delhi’s ridge areas. In her petition, Ghosh had said large parts of Delhi’s southern ridge were encroached, leading to the NGT issuing directions in 2017 for removal of encroachments.

The Ridge in Delhi, spread over an area of 7,800 hectares, is an extension of the Aravallis and it is divided into four distinct zones —the northern Ridge (87 hectares), the central Ridge (864 hectares), the south-central ridge (626 hectares), and the southern Ridge (6,200 hectares). Additionally, the Nanakpura south central ridge is spread over an area of seven hectares.

Bhavreen Kandhari, an environmental activist said until the total area of the Ridge is defined, it cannot be protected against encroachments. “Even now, the Ridge is not fully protected, and while the southern Ridge has been demarcated, the other Ridge areas in Delhi are yet to be demarcated. This leaves forest land vulnerable and can be damaged or encroached upon,” she said.

To be sure, Delhi’s Ridge areas have already been notified under section 4 of the Indian Forest Act in 1994, but the final notification — which is done under section 20 of the Act and grants complete protection and defines its boundaries — is yet to be completed. The forest department since 2019 has earlier said the delays were due to encroachments and pending claims over forest land.

Last month, the forest department had informed NGT it cannot carry out the final notification of Delhi’s central, northern and south central Ridges as the demarcation for these forest areas is still pending.

Citing multiplicity of agencies in these Ridge areas — parts come under the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), land and development office (L&DO) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) — the department stated that it has written to the revenue department to carry out a joint inspection and subsequent demarcation, which can pave way for notification and protection of these areas.

“A substantial portion of the ridge are under management of different management/land owning agencies like the DDA, L&DO, CPWD, MCD and others. Apart from the southern ridge, other ridges i.e south central ridge, northern, Nanakpura and central ridge are yet to be demarcated. The department has written a letter to the revenue department and other agencies for a joint demarcation on the ground..” the department had said in an affidavit dated March 18.