Delhi High Court appoints retired Justice Najmi Waziri as head of committee to protect Delhi's forests

The Delhi High Court recently appointed its former judge, Justice Najmi Waziri as the head of the internal departmental committee tasked with protection of forests in the national capital [Neeraj Sharma v Union of India & Ors]..In an order passed on April 4, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that even though the forest officials are making efforts to protect forests and 'deemed forests' from further incursions and denudation of the forest trees, the land owning departments are not serious on the issue.The Court noted that the land-owning agencies are not assisting the internal department committee, constituted on the Court’s order, in collating the necessary documents, maps and other records.“In that view of the matter, it would be apposite to appoint a Retired Judge of this Court to head the Committee, so as to ensure that the other departments are under an obligation to co-operate with the Committee. In that view of the matter, it is deemed appropriate to request Mr. Justice Nazmi Waziri (Retd), learned former Judge of this Court to accept the Chairmanship of the Internal Departmental Committee, which would ably assist the learned Judge,” the Court said..The Court passed the order while dealing with a plea filed by Neeraj Sharma.In his plea, Sharma sought directions to the Delhi Government to demarcate all the deemed forest areas listed in an affidavit filed in 1997 before the Supreme Court in TN Godavarman Thirumulpud v Union of India & Ors..Justice Waziri is known as the "Green Judge" because of orders passed by him to increase the green cover in the city. According to one estimate, over one lakh trees were planted across the capital through orders passed by Justice Waziri. He retired from office in July 2023..The internal departmental committee was constituted by the Delhi High Court on December 21, 2024 and was headed by Dr P Viswakannan, the Chief Conservator of Forest. On April 4, the Court was told that by Amici Curiae Gautam Narayan and Aditya N Prasad pointed that despite the Court’s orders, the various government departments were not acting in tandem and that appointment of a retired judge to the committee would instill more seriousness in various departments..The Court, therefore, passed the order for appointment of Justice Waziri to the committee.“It goes without saying that the least this Court expects from the heads of the various Governmental Departments, who are parties i.e. respondent Nos. 8 to 16 before this Court, to cooperate with the Committee. The Committee is at liberty to send its regular reports to this Court apart from requiring any further orders for better implementation of the reference, noted above,” the Court stated. .Advocates Aditya N Prasad, Gautam Narayan and Prabhsahay Kaur appeared as amici curiae in the matter. Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Nidhi Raman appeared for Union of India. Advocates Debarchan De and Kritika Gupta represented the DDA. Additional Standing Counsel (ASC) Avishkar Singhvi as well as advocates Naved Ahmed and Vivek Kumar Singh represented the Delhi government. .[Read Order]