It’s constitutional duty of State to protect and restore water bodies, says Supreme Court

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, July 20

Holding that it’s the constitutional duty of the State to protect and restore water bodies, the Supreme Court has ordered the Uttar Pradesh Government to constitute a committee of senior officials to investigate instances where water bodies have been illegally filled in Nagina tehsil of Bijnor district.

“We must record here with a great deal of emphasis that it is the paramount duty of the State not only to protect the ponds/lakes/water bodies in the State but also to ensure that ponds/lakes/water bodies, which have been illegally filled in, are restored. It is the Constitutional duty of the State to do so,” a Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih said in its July 16 order.

“We direct the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment of the State of Uttar Pradesh to constitute a Committee of senior officials including the officials of the Revenue Department, Environment Department and the State Pollution Control Board. The said Committee shall be constituted within a period of three weeks from today. To begin with, the Committee will deal with the grievances made by the appellant about the ponds/lakes/water bodies in Tehsil Nagina, District Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh,” it said.

“The Committee will make in-depth study on the allegation of disappearance of ponds/lakes/water bodies in Tehsil Nagina. The Committee will suggest measures for the restoration thereof. Subsequently, the scope of the work of the Committee can be expanded to cover many districts,” the Bench ordered.

Directing the Committee to submit its report to it through the Uttar Pradesh Government on or before November 15, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on November 22, 2024.

The top court’s order came on a petition filed by Mirza Abid Beg challenging an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on his plea highlighting garbage dumped in water bodies

“The State Government shall ensure that the inspection of the entire revenue record relating to the properties which are mentioned in paragraph 4 of the application made by the appellant is provided to the Committee. After examining the old revenue records, the Committee will ascertain whether there were any entries regarding the existence of the ponds/lakes/water bodies. The Committee constituted by the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment shall make a visit to the properties on which ponds/lakes/water bodies were in existence. In addition, the Committee will visit the lands described in the application filed before the NGT,” it said.

Before the NGT, appellant Beg had highlighted instances where ponds, lakes, and water bodies in Tehsil Nagina, District Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, were being filled with garbage and subsequently encroached upon for illegal constructions. The NGT, in its brief order, acknowledged the veracity of these claims in at least one instance, recording that a portion of the garbage dumped in Nagina Tehsil of Bijnor District of Uttar Pradesh.

Finding fault with the order passed by the NGT, the top court noted that the NGT did not share a copy of the report called for with Beg and chose to pass a “very short” order. The Bench noted that the report indicates that at least in the case of one pond, Beg’s allegation was found to be correct and the NGT had recorded that a portion of the garbage dumped in the pond had been removed. “In our view, NGT ought to have kept the application pending,” the top court said.