The National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued notice to Haryana Government for narrowing the definition of forest. Petitioner environmentalist and retired Army officer Devender Singh Bamel sought to quash the August 18 notification of the Haryana Government, saying this move is violation of Supreme Court rulings and endangering the fragile Aravalli ecosystem.
The petition argues that the State’s restrictive definition poses a “grave risk” to the environment, as large swathes of scrub and open forests in the Aravallis —already under pressure from mining, urbanisation and real estate expansion —would be excluded from statutory protection. The NGT has issued notices to the state Government and its forest department and listed the matter for hearing on December 1.
The petitioner argued that in August 2025 notification, Haryana had never formally codified a rigid, technical definition of “forest” under the “dictionary meaning” principle. There were no prescribed thresholds for area, canopy density, or contiguity. The latest notification marks the first time the state has attempted to lay down such criteria in precise terms. According to the August 18 notification, only patches of at least five hectares in isolation, or two hectares if adjoining notified forests, with a canopy density of 40 per cent or more, will be considered “forests.” Linear plantations, orchards, and agroforestry areas have been excluded. The petition argues that these thresholds drastically reduce the scope of protection, potentially stripping more than 80 sq km of Gurugram’s open forest of legal safeguards. The NGT is also hearing another petition on the infiltration and encroachment in the former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar founded smriti van in Bhondsi. The petitioners said that the recent notification by diluting the meaning of forest will facilitate infiltration and encroachment.