Forests are “Delhi’s green lungs” & the only saviour from pollution & thus should be “restored”, the High Court of Delhi said on Thursday said while expressing concern over unauthorised constructions, including encroachments in the name of religious structures.The HC said people are unable to breathe here & are dying because of pollution & nobody can be permitted to stay in forest areas & they need to be evicted.
“Let the forest be restored. Today where will you find more forests? So the existing ones must be preserved. These are the green lungs of Delhi. Have a heart. Be human. Understand that people are dying because of pollution. This is our only saviour. This is our last bastion.
“We will not be able to breathe, What will you see? How will you enjoy the heritage if you can’t breathe in the city? Let them breathe. Enough peers, dargahs & temples are there. Enough. We have more than sufficient,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan & Justice Manmeet PS Arora said.
The court’s observations came while hearing a public interest litigation seeking that ancient monuments, particularly Ashiq Allah Dargah in Mehrauli, be protected from demolition.
It was the petitioners’ case that the dargah dates back to 1317 AD & is one of the earliest & most important Sultanate era structures in the country & includes the chillagah of Baba Farid, the revered 13th century Sufi saint.
The bench took judicial notice of the fact that Delhi is one of the cities that are worst affected by pollution & no month passes when the Air Quality Index (AQI) does not cross the hazardous mark.
“Undoubtedly life in its expanded horizons includes all that gives meaning to a man’s life, including his culture & heritage & the protection of that heritage in its full measure,” it said, adding that, according to doctors, even lungs of children are adversely being affected.
The court said it was of the view that right to health, breathe, heritage & culture have to be harmonised & balanced.
It noted that Mehrauli & Sanjay Van are marked as green/ forest areas in the Master Plan.
“This court is of the view that green areas are the lungs of the city & efforts have to be made by all statutory authorities to ensure that no illegal & unauthorised construction is carried out on this public land dedicated for public purpose,” it said.
While looking at the pictures, the bench said these are new tiles put on the structure there & it has been developed as a sightseeing place where more & more people come.
Advocate Satyajit Sarna, representing petitioners Himanshu Damle & Seela Manaswinee Mahapatra, submitted that for hundreds of years if something has been used as a place of worship obviously it goes through changes.
We are talking about 800-year-old sites & they are even older than these forests, he claimed.
The court, however, did not agree with it & said this was very unfair & all this was being given some sort of a slogan.
“We are getting the forest area cleared so that people can breathe in Delhi. There is so much pollution. Some of these are apparent that they are new structures. It is all an encroachment. These tiles were in Delhi even 10 years before,” it said, adding that surely this type of tiles were not there in the 16th century.
While looking at some of the photographs annexed with the petition, the court said there is a proper dense colony constructed in the middle of forest.
As the lawyer maintained that the structure was ancient, Justice Manmohan said they are certainly not ancient & are clearly fresh constructions.
“This is being expanded on a very lavish scale. We have seen in Delhi how unauthorised construction starts, this is not something which is being done. No person will be allowed to stay there & they will have to move out. This will not work & people should not fire from your shoulder.
“If something is found to be sacred, we will direct them to preserve it but no one will be allowed to stay there. Everyone will move out otherwise the whole forest is going to be disturbed,” the bench said.
As the lawyer said this structure came before the forest, the bench said, “But forest will be given priority.” “We have seen how all this is done, there is a bigger game plan & all this is done with a slogan & to mislead the general public. This is done to create confusion & to create division in the society.
“The priority is the green lungs of Delhi. You don’t feel for Delhiites. Young children are not born with red lungs. Today when a surgeon opens the lungs of children or anybody else, they are not red & they are all black. Children are being born with defunct lungs, please feel for them,” the bench said.
“It is for the betterment of society at large. Health is at the highest pedestal. Look at the people who are suffering from lung diseases in Delhi, unbelievable. We are such an unhealthy population today. We have deformed lungs, it is terrible,” the bench said.
The court disposed of the petition while noting the statement made by the counsel for DDA & other authorities that all the structures declared by any statutory authority as part of the national heritage will be preserved & shall not be destroyed or demolished.
It was further submitted that all encroachments are being removed & any demolition action will be taken only in accordance with law.
TAGS: Delhi High Court Forest conservation Pollution Unauthorized constructions
