New Delhi, Aug 21 The National Green Tribunal has disposed of a plea seeking its directions to declare 95 acres of land as deemed forest earmarked for redevelopment of Bijwasan railway station in the Dwarka area here, noting that the Supreme Court had already decided the land's legal status.
The green body was hearing a plea claiming that the 95-acre land, which was part of a larger piece of land measuring 125 acres in southwest Delhi, needed to be protected under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 (VSESA, 1980) and in terms of judicial precedents.
According to the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd. (IRSDC), Bijwasan is an existing station on the Delhi-Rewari line of the Indian Railways network that is proposed to be redeveloped as a world-class station. It is also aimed at augmenting the number and capacity of terminal stations in the capital city.
In an order dated August 7, made available on Friday, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Afroz Ahmad noted that issues raised had been already decided by an apex court ruling of March 20 this year regarding the same project, according to which the land cannot be granted forest status retrospectively.
"The Supreme Court has observed that a mechanical application of the judgment defining 'forest' and 'forest land' without regard to the historical land use and contemporaneous official records cannot be done and due consideration must be given to overall facts of the case," the tribunal said, citing the top court's verdict.
It said the apex court had also considered the nature and significance of the project on the redevelopment of the Bijwasan Railway Station area as an Integrated Metropolitan Passenger Terminal forming part of a broader transport and urban infrastructure framework envisaged for the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.
The green panel underlined that the legal character of land is determined by official revenue records and its status at the point of time when a development plan is formulated.
It said, "The Supreme Court has found that the subject land formed part of a larger tract of agricultural land acquired in 1986 and allotted for development of Bijwasan Integrated Passenger Terminal and incorporated in Master Plan, 2021 and at the time of formulation of Master Plan, the land was not notified as forest or declared as forest or treated as deemed forest," the tribunal said.
It said that the master plan had statutory force and subsequent change in vegetation and tree species which are not part of natural forest ecosystem cannot alter its legal status.
The tribunal said that the top court had also directed authorities to make earnest efforts to ensure transplantation of native or indigenous trees to the maximum extent possible, and to preserve and protect existing trees in and around the project area.
It cited the judgment according to which, before the commencement of any work on the site, compensatory afforestation had to be undertaken strictly in accordance with the applicable statutory rules and permissions granted by the competent authorities.
"Thus, we find that the issue raised in this original application (OA) is covered by the order of the Supreme Court in the matter (civil appeal Naveen Solanki & Anr vs. Rail Land Development Authority & Ors). Hence, the issue is already concluded," the tribunal said, disposing of the plea.
The NGT also reiterated that the environmental safeguards mandated by the Supreme Court and by the tribunal had to be followed.
