All Indians must be proud of Mohammad Salim as it is because of his untiring and painstaking efforts that we could see Uttarakhand High Court pronouncing Ganga and Yamuna as living entities
Sanjeev Sirohi
In a landmark judgment with far-reaching consequences, the Uttarakhand High Court has categorically laid down that, “Gangotri and Yamunotri glaciers are living entities”.
The Gangotri and Yamunotri glaciers, considered sacred by billions of Indians, were declared on March 31, 2017 as living entities by the High Court, which also granted similar status to virtually every creation of nature in the Himalayan state.
No doubt, this is landmark ruling will go a long way in ensuring that Gangotri and Yamunotri glaciers are treated as living entities and they too have the right to be legally protected.
This order came a few days after the court had granted the same status to the Ganga and Yamuna rivers, which flows out of the two glaciers. The status means that the rivers and the glaciers have the right to be legally protected and if anyone harms or pollutes them, the law would view it as no different from harming a person.
The high court judgment on the rivers in March was the first to grab international headlines coming just a few days after river Whanganui in New Zealand became the first in the world to be granted a legal human status. The Uttarakhand High Court had referred to the rights given to the Whanganui river that is revered by the Maori people.
Recognising a river as a living entity means that if someone pollutes it, the law will prescribe a punishment equal to harming a human being.
While no sane person will dispute in giving credit to the Uttarakhand High Court for pronouncing such a landmark judgment but the same credit, if not more, must also be given to Mohammad Salim who was directly responsible for drawing the undiluted attention of the Uttarakhand High Court in this regard by filing a PIL and demanding in no uncertain terms that the Ganga and the Yamuna must be treated as living entities. All Indians must be proud of Mohammad Salim as it is because of his untiring and painstaking efforts that we could see Uttarakhand High Court pronouncing such a landmark judgment on the PIL filed by him.
The court order stated that, “…to protect the recognition and the faith of society, rivers Ganga and Yamuna are required to be declared as the legal persons (or) living persons.” It also stated that, “The Ganga and (the) Yamuna, all their tributaries, streams… are declared as juristic (or) legal persons (or) living entities having the status of a legal person with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person in order to preserve and conserve river Ganga and Yamuna.”
The order comes at a time when Ganga and Yamuna rivers remain in a state of neglect and even though several government initiatives, including the Centre’s Namami Gange programme, are aimed at restoring their health and in spite of tall claims of many crores of rupees being spent not much has been achieved yet on the ground. The Uttarakhand High Court had then ordered that the Director of the Namami Gange scheme, the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, and the Advocate-General of Uttarakhand would serve as “parents” for the rivers and would be the human faces to “protect, conserve and preserve” the rivers and their tributaries.
Now coming back to the latest judgment, the two-Judge Bench of Uttarakhand High Court comprising Justice Rajeev Sharma and Justice Alok Singh said that, “The past generations have handed over the ‘Mother Earth’ to us in its pristine glory and we are morally bound to hand over the same ‘Mother Earth’ to the next generation. The very existence of the rivers, forests, lakes, water bodies, air and glaciers is at stake due to global warming, climate change and pollution.” The Uttarakhand High Court passed this landmark order on a PIL filed by advocate Lalit Miglani and others who deserve credit.
It is well-known that Gangotri and Yamunotri are also part of Uttarakhand’s fabled ‘char dham’ – four pilgrimage points visited by lakhs of Hindu devotees every year. I must clarify here that even people from other religions and foreigners also visit these places and treat Ganga and Yamuna rivers with respect as also Gangotri and Yamunotri glaciers. There are 968 glaciers in Uttarakhand (425 in Alaknanda river, 255 in Kumaon, 238 in Bhagirathi river and 50 in Yamuna river).
The High Court, in its latest landmark judgment, also held that, “Rivers, streams, rivulets, lakes, air, meadows, dales, jungles, forests wetlands, grasslands, springs and waterfalls” in Uttarakhand must be given “corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person, in order to preserve and conserve them”. Most of the rivers in India are said to be highly polluted with sewage from urban settlements, farming pesticides and industrial effluents flowing into the water.
The Uttarakhand High Court on March 30 also ordered the Uttarakhand Environment Protection & Polution Control Board (UEPPCB) to “close down all hotels, ashrams and industries which are polluting the Ganga by strictly enforcing the court’s orders passed earlier in this regard.” The High Court made the observation while commenting that there was laxity in shutting down the polluting units by the administration. This was the third time in the past four months that the Uttarakhand High Court had emphasised on the dire need to close establishments polluting the Ganga and pulled up those authorities responsible for enforcing the order in the state. It would be instructive to recollect here that on December 2, 2016, the Court had issued an exhaustive order stating that “the ashrams at Haridwar would be ordered to be sealed and closed down in case untreated sewage is permitted by them to flow in the Ganga directly without treatment.” It had also asked for a special audit to be done by the Comptroller and Auditor General of “all centrally-financed schemes launched to rejuvenate river Ganga.” An immediate closure of around 106 industries within the vicinity of the river was also ordered.
It is time for the government to get cracking on all polluting units which are directly responsible for polluting the Ganga and the Yamuna river and glaciers.
The landmark judgment is expected to compel the government as well as private enterprises to take major steps to clean the Ganga and the Yamuna glaciers and take necessary steps to protect them as they have been given the status of a living entity and action will be taken now more vigorously against those who cause pollution.
It is now entirely up to the government to take necessary steps to implement what the Uttarakhand High Court has so rightly ordered. More CCTVs must be installed along both the Ganga and the Yamuna rivers and glaciers to ensure that those people who throw waste into them are caught red-handed Most strict action must be taken against those who pollute the Ganga and the Yamuna glaciers and rivers.
A very heavy penalty must be imposed on those polluting these rivers and glaciers as also a rigorous jail term of not less than 20 years so that no one dare indulge wantonly in harming them in any manner.
(The writer is an advocate)
