SC raps states over wetlands inaction
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, February 04 2025:
The Supreme Court of India has pulled up States for doing 'almost nothing' on its earlier directive of ground truthing the current status of the existing wetlands in the country and subsequently demarcating the wetland boundaries.
In a strongly worded statement, India's apex court observed that "The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, and the guidelines issued prescribe that the next step after identification of wetlands is what is called ground truthing, which is the term given to the actual inspection of the wetlands by a team constituted by the state for that purpose.
This step has, however, been neglected by almost all the states, except Punjab to some extent.
As regards demarcation of these wetlands all states have done almost nothing up till now" .
The bench of justices Sud-hanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah hearing a case filed by Anand Arya (Writ Petition(s) (Civil) No(s) 304/2018), directed all state/union territory wetland authorities to complete the work 'as expeditiously as possible, but definitely within a period of three months from today' .
The ruling was given on December 11, 2024, almost a month and a half passed since.
The apex court subsequently directed the said wetland authorities to complete the ground truthing as well as the demarcation of wetland boundaries of each of the wetland which have been identified for their respective state/ union territory by the Space Application Centre Atlas (SAC Atlas, 2021) .
Prior to 2017, the figures provided by the national scientific agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) regarding the number of wetlands in the country having an area more than 2.25 hectares was 2,01,503 .
The latest ISRO data, which is of the year 2021, showed that the figure had now increased to 2,31,195.Rule 5 of the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, instructs states/union territories to develop comprehensive digital inventory of all wetlands in their respective jurisdictions within one year from the date of publication of the Rules, and, thereto, upload the same on a dedicated web portal, to be developed by the Central Government for the said purpose, and the inventory has to be updated every ten years.
The Rules define strategies for conservation and wise use of wetlands within the states/union territories' jurisdictions, wise use being a principle for managing these ecosystems which incorporates sustainable uses (such as capture fisheries at subsistence level or harvest of aquatic plants) as being compatible with conservation, if ecosystem functions (such as water storage, ground water recharge, flood buffering) and values (such as recreation and cultural) are maintained as appropriate.
The Rules urged the review of Integrated Management Plan for each of the notified wetlands (including trans-boundary wetlands in coordination with Central Government), and within these plans to consider the continuation and support to traditional uses of wetlands that are harmonized with the ecological character of each of the wetlands.
The Rules further specified that the State Wetland Authority of each of the states/union territories shall meet at least thrice in a year, while the Technical and the Grievance Committees of the Authority referred to in sub-rule (6) shall meet at least once in every quarter to perform their functions.
It may further be recalled that the Supreme Court Order of April 3, 2017 (reference Writ Petition (C) No.230 of 2001), had passed directions to states/union territories regarding the protection of Ramsar Sites (of wetlands) to be monitored by each of the High Court concerned, and accordingly 15 High Courts were duly given the directive.
The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, as well as high courts of Gauhati, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan, Madras, Tripura, Allahabad and Calcutta were directed by the apex court to expedite the matter.
Meanwhile, dignitaries attending the World Wetlands Day on Sunday in the state had re-emphasised the deteriorating condition of most of the wetlands in Manipur, and called for renewed thrust on ecosystem restoration of the existing wetlands.
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