The National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) Principal Bench in New Delhi has directed that all compensatory plantations undertaken in lieu of felled trees in Gurugram must henceforth be geo-tagged, video recorded and assigned individual sapling numbers, with survival rates and plantation areas mandatorily documented and reported.
The order was passed by a Bench comprising Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Expert Member Dr A Senthil Vel.
The Bench found the status report filed by the District Forest Officer (DFO), Gurugram, to be “materially deficient," noting that it failed to mention the area of compensatory plantations or the survival rate of saplings planted. So serious was the Tribunal’s displeasure that it ordered the DFO to appear personally before the Bench — either in person or via video conference at the next date of hearing fixed for August 11, 2026.
The order came on the heels of a strongly-worded response filed by the applicants Vaishali Rana and others accusing the Forest Department of large-scale fraud in compensatory plantation compliance. Environmentalists and applicants told the Tribunal that while the DFO’s report claimed that over 3,540 trees had been planted at sites, including Central VERGE Sector 29, Malibu Town Park and Club 4 DLF Phase IV in Gurugram, ground visits by the applicants found no evidence of any plantation activity whatsoever at these locations.
Photographs with GPS coordinates were submitted to the Tribunal as proof.
The applicants further pointed out that the DFO’s report provided no GPS coordinates of planted saplings, no clarification on species planted, no verification of claims made by permission holders and no details of action taken against agencies that failed to comply. In one particularly telling instance, a resident welfare association of Nirvana Country, Sector 50, Gurugram — which had received permission to fell 106 dead trees — wrote to the Forest Department in February 2026 seeking guidance on where to undertake compensatory plantation, but received no response, making compliance impossible.
The applicants have also demanded the constitution of a special inquiry panel to investigate the alleged fraud in compensatory plantation reporting, arguing that the scale of false claims warranted an independent probe beyond routine departmental oversight. They have also shot a letter to the Haryana Chief Minister seeking accountability for the alleged environmental fraud.
“The concerned officers should be penalised who allowed felling of trees showing bogus compensatory afforestations. Haryana has one of the lowest green covers in country and a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) named Gurugram the most polluted city in India for March 2026. The city is a concrete disaster and rather than conserving its limited green cover the forest authorities are themselves aiding in destruction. We want special enquiry by Cm and action,” said applicant and environmentalist Vaishali rana Chandra.