Tree offence portal to digitise records of violations in Delhi

The submission came during a recent case from north Delhi’s Naharpur village where a tree offender had felled and pruned trees in the area on multiple occasions.

The state forest and wildlife department has created a tree offence portal online where all tree-related offences and offenders in Delhi will be recorded, the department told National Green Tribunal (NGT). The submission came during a recent case from north Delhi’s Naharpur village where a tree offender had felled and pruned trees in the area on multiple occasions.

The NGT has been hearing a plea by the Naharpur residents’ welfare association (RWA) since July 2021, alleging illegal felling of trees in the area.

The NGT has been hearing a plea by the Naharpur residents’ welfare association (RWA) since July 2021, alleging illegal felling of trees in the area. The forest department, following ground inspections, had informed the tribunal that a repeat offender was present in the area – who had earlier been fined ₹20,000 for illegally pruning and subsequently imposed a compounding fee of ₹3.5 lakh for the offence between 2023 and 2024.

The department had subsequently admitted it had no proper mechanism to identify repeat offenders – prompting the NGT in May 2025 to issue directions for proper digitisation and record-keeping and strict action against repeat offenders.

In the submission dated September 19, the department said the creation of a portal for all tree-related offences was now complete and will ensure penalties are not manually compounded. “...In compliance with the aforesaid directions of the Hon’ble NGT via the order dated May 15, 2025, a letter dated September 17, 2025 was sent to the office of the deponent….wherein it has been informed that a tree offence portal to detect the repeated offender, booked under provisions of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994, has been created and a screenshot of the same has been attached..” said the report.

A forest department official said the portal, which is now live, but not accessible to the public, will help centralise all offences. “Earlier, these records were manually being maintained by the different forest divisions. A decision on whether to make the portal public is yet to be taken,” the official added.

The NGT had in May also acknowledged that after directions by the Supreme Court, a tree census exercise was being planned for Delhi and that they have asked agencies to explore the feasibility of geotagging trees during this exercise, if not already included in the plan.