When 18 Namo Oxygen Parks were inaugurated across Delhi on World Environment Day, the project was presented as a major environmental initiative aimed at expanding green cover and improving air quality.
Spread across 185.4 acres, the parks have been developed using native species such as peepal, banyan, neem and jamun.
However, official records linked to a recent Supreme Court case have raised questions over the origins of the project and whether the plantation drive was conceived as a fresh environmental initiative or emerged from a court-directed restoration exercise.
The matter traces back to 2024, when hundreds of trees were felled in south Delhi for the widening of an approach road leading to the Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFIMS). The felling came under judicial scrutiny and later formed part of contempt proceedings before the SC in the case of Bindu Kapurea vs Subhashish Panda and Others.
In its judgment delivered on May 28, 2025, the apex court held that officials of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had acted in violation of judicial directions governing activities in the Ridge area. While acknowledging the public importance of improved access to CAPFIMS, the court expressed concern over the ecological damage caused and called for restoration measures.
The court directed compensatory afforestation to be undertaken by the DDA in coordination with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. It also ordered that the exercise be monitored by a committee of environmental experts appointed by the court.
Significantly, the judgment referred to nearly 185 acres of land identified for afforestation and directed that the suitability of the land be examined to facilitate large-scale plantation during the monsoon season.
That figure has since drawn attention as the newly launched Namo Oxygen Parks also span around 185 acres. According to details released at the inauguration, the parks are spread across 18 locations in Delhi. The sites correspond with land parcels identified for compensatory afforestation in the aftermath of the Supreme Court proceedings.
The connection became more pronounced after a status report filed by the DDA before the Supreme Court referred to the afforestation exercise as being carried out in compliance with the court’s May 28, 2025 judgment. The report specifically cited directions requiring compensatory plantation in coordination with the Delhi Government.
The development has triggered debate over how the project should be viewed. While there is little dispute over the environmental value of the plantations, questions have been raised over whether the exercise is primarily a government-led green initiative or a restoration programme undertaken pursuant to judicial directions following environmental violations.
The distinction carries significance as the compensatory afforestation ordered by the court was intended as a remedial measure to address ecological damage caused by unauthorised tree felling, rather than as a standalone greening or beautification programme.
For now, Delhi has gained 18 new green spaces. But whether the Namo Oxygen Parks come to be seen chiefly as an environmental project or as the outcome of a court-mandated restoration process may depend on official records, compliance reports and the findings of the committee overseeing the afforestation exercise.
