New Delhi: National Green Tribunal has disposed of a plea challenging construction on about 95 acres of land for the Bijwasan rail project in Dwarka, holding that the issue was covered by a March 2026 judgement of the Supreme Court (SC) concerning the same project area.The application filed by Naveen Solanki had raised the issue of whether the 95 acres of land fell within the ambit of “deemed forest” and therefore required protection under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980. The applicant had alleged that the disputed land was part of a larger 125-acre forest area and that around 13,000 trees were spread over the 95 acres. The applicant had also raised allegations of illegal felling of trees.NGT noted that the 95 acres formed part of a larger 125-acre parcel, of which the remaining 30 acres had already been considered by Tribunal in an earlier case. SC, in its March 20, 2026 judgement, had affirmed the NGT’s earlier order and considered the entire project land.“The Supreme Court has found that the subject land formed part of larger tract of agricultural land acquired in 1986 and allotted for development of Bijwasan Integrated Passenger Terminal and incorporated in Master Plan, 2021. At the time of formulation of Master Plan, the land was not notified as forest or declared as forest or treated as deemed forest,” observed the bench comprising chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Afroz Ahmad, in an order dated Aug 7.At the same time, the tribunal directed that the safeguards and directions issued by SC would apply to the 95-acre land as well. These include making maximum efforts for transplantation of native/indigenous trees, preservation and protection of existing trees, and undertaking compensatory afforestation before commencement of work.
