Put a grille, place a wire, but save trees: Delhi HC orders PWD
The high court asked the authority to file an affidavit indicating the total plantation that it will do in two months
The Public Works Department (PWD) must comply with an order regarding the planting of trees and protect them, the Delhi high court remarked on Tuesday, while asking the authority to file an affidavit indicating the total plantation that it will do in two months.

“Delhi is a metropolitan city. Everyone wants to repose faith in you but there are 400 trees which have withered away… Despite hostility… you have to comply. Put a cement grill, barbed wire… You have to protect it. There will be cattle, cars, you will have to take steps… You’ll have to do it,” a bench of justice Jasmeet Singh told advocate Sameer Vashisht, who appeared for PWD.
“PWD will file an affidavit indicating the number of trees to be planted in Delhi with regards to the number of plantations done in two months from today,” the court said in its order, while also asking Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to identify large areas of land available in Delhi for plantation of an alternate forest in the Capital.
The court was considering a case concerning the plantation of trees in the city from funds in the Green Delhi Account. Last year, the court had directed the authorities to plant 10,000 trees across the Capital by utilising ₹70 lakh that was deposited in court as costs imposed on defaulting parties in different cases.
Advocate Vashisht submitted that though PWD, between July and November 2023, could plant only 772 trees, it was aiming to plant 300,000 saplings in 2024. He further submitted that PWD could not plant trees due to limited space and infrastructure, as designated planting areas on the sides of roads were constrained by underground utilities such as drains, sewers, electricity lines, IGL lines, communication lines, and water supply lines.
“The difficulty in the urban areas of Delhi is that there is limited space for plantation. There is drainage in the colony, IGL pipelines and thus it is difficult to plant trees,” he submitted. Against this backdrop, he also urged the court to grant the authority two months to identify the areas where it could carry out the plantation and look after them.
The PWD special secretary, who appeared virtually, agreed that though the mortality of trees was quite high last year, the civic authority had this year issued contracts for the plantation and maintenance of trees for a period of three years.
To be sure, the high court last week had pulled PWD for its failure to preserve 400 trees, saying the department cannot express helplessness towards protecting the trees planted by it alongside the road. “You are a municipal authority and you can’t express helplessness. How many times? How much?” the court had said.

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