Court says water bodies are constitutional right

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M. Pancholi ruled that water bodies, as sources of drinking water, fall within the right to life guaranteed by India's Constitution.

Courts cannot ignore unprotected wetlands

The bench said courts cannot remain spectators or be unmindful of consequences when precious water bodies stay unprotected. The ruling came in response to a public interest petition.

“This Court cannot remain a mere spectator or be unmindful of the consequences flowing from water bodies remaining unprotected.”

States ordered to map all wetlands

The Supreme Court directed all states and wetland authorities to undertake physical ground-truthing of water bodies and file compliance affidavits detailing the methods used for the exercise.

Four months granted for completion

The court initially set a four-week deadline but extended it to four months after Senior Counsel Shekhar Naphade argued the physical work would be time-consuming and requested six to nine months.

Nine years without completion

The top court noted that even nine years after the rules were published, ground-truthing and demarcation of wetlands had not been completed or concluded by states and authorities.

Petition filed by bird enthusiast and NGO

The Supreme Court was hearing a public interest petition filed by bird enthusiast Anand Arya, advocate M. K. Balakrishnan and NGO Vanashakti regarding wetland protection.