New Delhi: Forty trees were cut along Delhi’s Mangolpuri-Sultanpuri drain in 2023. Now, the National Green Tribunal has pulled up the Delhi Forest Department for failing to act promptly and ordered it to compile a database of illegal tree felling cases in the city over the last five years.
The Principal Bench of the NGT passed its judgement this week in the case, based on a petition by Vijay Kumar, president of the Resident Welfare Organisation, Sultanpuri. He had alleged that officials of the Delhi government were behind the felling.
“The facts of the present case reflect a very sorry state of affairs,” said the NGT’s judgement, which was released on 14 May. “The authorities entrusted with the responsibility of preservation of trees have not only failed to prevent illegal felling of trees, but have also failed to take any prompt action.”
The NGT, in its order, also asked the Delhi Forest Department to oversee the compensatory plantation of 400 native trees in Mangolpuri-Sultanpuri, where the tree felling had occurred. It also directed the Delhi Police to lodge an FIR against the perpetrators who carried out the tree felling in 2023, according to the petitioner’s original application.
The tribunal also directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Delhi, to ensure that tree officers act quickly on complaints of illegal felling.
“PCCF Delhi is directed to issue appropriate instructions to all tree officers to take prompt action and dispose of complaints regarding illegal tree felling,” said the order, passed by the bench of Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Expert Member Dr Afroz Ahmed.
Also Read: How will Delhi conduct its first city-wide tree census
How the case unfolded
The original case was lodged in 2023, when petitioner Vijay Kumar approached the NGT with an application alleging that officers from the Delhi Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department were illegally cutting hundreds of trees with JCBs near the Mangolpuri-Sultanpuri drain in outer Delhi.
The application also alleged that the officials, senior engineers in the I&FC department, were selling mature tree trunks for a profit.
While the designated tree officer — the Deputy Conservator of Forest, North Division of Delhi Forest Department — took notice of the offence, no action was taken against the perpetrators for two years.
Felling trees is a punishable offence anywhere in the capital under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.
In March 2025, the petitioner wrote to the Supreme Court of India, alleging that fresh tree cutting was taking place in the same locality. He alleged corruption in the I&FC department and the forest department, since the latter chose not to act despite repeated complaints.
When the letter was sent to the NGT, it took suo motu cognisance of the matter and registered a fresh application in May 2025. It then ordered the formation of a Joint Committee with the Delhi Forest Department, the District Magistrate, and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to inspect the site.
The committee found signs of 40 trees felled in 2023, and the Deputy Conservator of Forests ordered the I&FC department to plant 400 trees as compensatory afforestation in September 2025.
But the NGT noted in its order on Tuesday that the 400 trees had still not been planted. It directed the Delhi Forest Department to compile data on illegal tree felling cases in the city, take action to resolve them, and submit compliance reports within three months.
“We have found in other cases coming up before this tribunal as well that the concerned officers do not take prompt action and orders for compensatory afforestation are not complied with for a long time,” noted the NGT’s order.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)