SC constitutes high-level panel to deal with contamination of rivers in Rajasthan

New Delhi, Nov 21 (PTI) Continued contamination of three rivers in Rajasthan has virtually put the lives of two million people at peril, the Supreme Court said on Friday as it constituted a high-level ecosystem oversight committee to supervise remedial measures required to check further pollution.

It passed the order in a suo motu case concerning contamination in the Jojari river.

The apex court said the contamination in the Jojari, Bandi and Luni rivers in Rajasthan reflected a sustained "systemic collapse" of regulatory vigilance and "utter administrative apathy" stretching over nearly two decades.

"The present proceedings involve issues of grave concern and disastrous consequences, as a fallout of apathy at all levels which has virtually put the lives of two million people, animals and the ecosystem of three important rivers in western Rajasthan at peril," a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said.

It said the pollution of these riverine ecosystems represented an assault not merely on natural watercourses but on the constitutional guarantees that animate and sustain the Indian Republic, that is, right to life, dignity, health, safe drinking water, ecological balance, equality, and the right of future generations to inherit an environment capable of sustaining life.

When environmental degradation reaches such "gargantuan proportions" that it strikes at the foundation of these guarantees, the injury transcends the ecological realm and becomes a direct constitutional injury requiring immediate, comprehensive and effective judicial redress, the bench said.

It noted the Jojari river passes through Jodhpur, the Bandi river flows through Pali, and the Luni river passes through Balotra. The Bandi and Jojari rivers merge into the Luni near Balotra city.

"This court has, over the years, been called upon to examine innumerable issues pertaining to environmental degradation, but the factual matrix of this case stands out for the duration, extent, and magnitude of the harm inflicted," it said.

The SC bench said that in the face of such entrenched environmental degradation, delay is not merely undesirable; it is "carcinogenic and catastrophic".

It said Justice Sangeet Lodha, a retired judge of the Rajasthan High Court, will be the chairperson of the high-level ecosystem oversight committee.

The top court referred to a status report filed recently by Rajasthan, delineating the steps undertaken by various state agencies in response to the environmental crisis, and noted the state has undertaken several urgent measures after it took suo motu cognisance of the issue.

"We are pained to observe that these remedial measures have been triggered by the suo motu cognisance taken by this court... whereas the state should have acted spontaneously years ago, for ensuring round-the-clock compliance, which is the constitutional obligation of the state government and the authorities concerned," it said.

The bench said while the status report reflected that the state has "woken up from its slumber" subsequent to the suo motu cognisance and has undertaken several measures, "at the same time, it is evident that these steps have been taken only as a sequel to this court's intervention".

While these measures are not insignificant, their timing is "deeply telling", it said.

The bench observed the "belated flurry" of administrative activity, triggered solely by fortuitous judicial intervention, underscores a prolonged period of regulatory apathy and institutional neglect.

"Environmental harm of the present magnitude is not merely a regulatory lapse or administrative shortcoming; it is in gross dereliction of the constitutional promise that the state shall secure conditions of life with dignity, safety and well-being," it said.

The top court said polluted rivers, contaminated groundwater and resulting impairment of health and livelihood dilute the very substance of the right to life as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution, reducing it from a living guarantee into a fragile abstraction.

Referring to several verdicts of the apex court in environmental matters, the bench said these decisions leave no room for ambiguity that where environmental degradation threatens life, health and ecological balance, the state must act with urgency, competence and foresight, and constitutional courts are duty-bound to intervene when such obligations are not met.

Referring to the broad terms of reference of the committee, it said the panel shall prepare a scientifically grounded, time-bound restoration and rejuvenation blueprint for the river system.

The Supreme Court said the committee shall undertake a comprehensive mapping of all legal and illegal points of discharge into these rivers and place its recommendations and findings in that regard before the court.

It said the interim stay operating on the National Green Tribunal's February 2022 order in a matter relating to pollution caused in these rivers shall stand lifted.

However, the bench said the interim stay on the tribunal's order shall continue to operate only in respect of the remarks made against Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd and other authorities and also on the direction imposing environmental compensation of Rs two crore upon them.

The bench said the substantive remedial, regulatory and preventive directions contained in the tribunal's order shall now be implemented in full, without impediment.

It posted the matter for February 27 for receiving the first status report of the committee. PTI ABA ABA NSD NSD