Justice Najmi Waziri to chair committee for protecting forests

• The Delhi High Court has appointed a former Delhi High Court judge, Justice Najmi Waziri as chairman of an internal departmental committee of city officials dealing with the protection of forests in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
• The Bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was considering an application filed through amicus curiae Aditya Narayan Prasad. The application sought a modification of its December 21, 2023

ABOUT COMMITTEE

• The Delhi High Court in December last year had ordered the setting up of an internal department on the protection of Delhi’s forest. The committee was to consist of the chief conservator of forest, the conservator of forest and deputy conservator of forest (protecting and monitoring) and the deputy conservator of forest concerned with the preservation of deemed forests.
• The Court directed the committee to take concrete steps for preservation, protection, reclamation and enhancement of both protected and deemed forests.
• The court ordered all the concerned departments of the Delhi government to cooperate with the committee and asked the Delhi government to provide secretarial facilities and assistance to Justice Waziri.

ABOUT JUSTICE NAJMI WAZIRI

• Justice Waziri of Delhi High Court was famous as the green judge of Delhi. During his tenure as a judge he passed several orders on increasing the green cover of Delhi. He issued at least 150 judgments where the funds deposited by defaulting litigants as costs were used to plant trees.
• His order over five years in various cases led to the planting of over 370,000 trees in various parts of Delhi which also contributed in developing two parks in Delhi. He retired from the Delhi Court in July 2023.

FOREST IN NCT DELHI

• According to the Forest Department of Delhi the total recorded forest area in Delhi is 85 sq. km which is 5.73% of the geographic area Delhi. The Reserved and Protected Forests constituted 76% and 8.24% of the total forest area respectively.