Supreme Court makes DMRB a jumbo body; asks it to demarcate morphological ridge

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday revamped the Delhi Ridge Management Board ( DMRB ) to eliminate confusion caused by multiple authorities tasked to protect Delhi Ridge and directed the Board to remove all encroachments from the forested and morphological Ridge and file six monthly reports with the court on their health.

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran recast the DMRB by making it a 13-member body headed by Delhi chief secretary and members including DDA vice-chairman, representatives of MoEF and Department of Forest, MCD Commissioner, NDMC chairperson, Director General of CPWD, Delhi Police Commissioner’s representative and members of NGOs nominated by Delhi govt.

The SC also constituted a standing committee, which will be headed by a representative of the Central Empowered Committee, for looking after day-to-day affairs of DMRB and said committee members, apart from officials, must be experts in the field of conservation. It said DMRB shall act as a single-window authority insofar as Delhi Ridge and the Morphological Ridge is concerned.

Writing the judgment, CJI Gavai said, “The core functions of the DRMB must be directed towards conservation of the existing Ridge Forests and removal of existing encroachments from the Ridge.” SC lamented that though a preliminary notification was issued in May 1994 identifying 7,777 hectares of land as reserved forest, only 103 hectares have been notified as forest in the next three decades.

CEC told the court that 5% of the Ridge is under encroachment, 4% already diverted for non-forest purposes, and only 1.33% has been notified as forest.

“The very purpose of the DRMB is to preserve the integrity of the Ridge, as a morphological and ecological feature. Therefore, the DRMB should focus on preservation of existing Ridge forests and further improving the areas through scientific conservation measures. The DRMB should also ensure that fragmentation of Ridge Forests is prevented,” he said.

The SC tasked DMRB to ensure preservation of the Ridge, including the morphological Ridge, in its pristine glory by removing all encroachments and steps to improve the Ridge, including protection, scientific management, ecological restoration, afforestation and habitat conservation.

Directing DMRB to submit reports every six months on the status of the Ridge, the bench directed all authorities in Delhi to act in aid of discharge of duties of the Board.