Uttarakhand high court declared River Ganga as living entity. Ganga saving rights given to those personality, who have rights already. even they were unable to take perfect measures. Rights should be given to those people, who are actually working for Ganga. First time in India the Uttarakhand high court has declared the Ganga and Yamuna rivers as a living person. The judgement quoted a Bill (Wanganui river claims settlement) passed by the New Zealand Parliament on March 15,2017.The Maori tribe has been agitating for the conservation of the Wanganui River for the last 140 years since 1870s. Now, the River has been given all rights as a legal person. The approach of granting legal personality to a river is unique
Two guardians will be appointed to act on behalf of Whanganui River, one from the crown (that is, the Government) and one from the Maori tribe. We can see the New Zealand parliament report here.
Basing itself in part on this Act of the New Zealand Parliament, the Uttarakhand High Court observed that Ganga and Yamuna represent the faith of the society and are required to be declared as legal personality. High court has given the rights to represent the Ganga to Director General of Namami Gange Project, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, and Advocate General, Uttarakhand. The High Court judgement is attached here.
There is a fundamental difference in the approach of the New Zealand Parliament and the Uttarakhand High Court. The New Zealand Parliament gave the right to represent the river to the Crown (Government) and the Maori Tribe. In contrast, the Uttarakhand High Court has given this right only to the Government officials.
The persons who have been given the right to represent the Ganga already had many powers vested in them. For example, the Cabinet has given the right to impose fine on polluters to Director General of Namami Gange Project as seen in the news item below.
The present sad state of the Ganga has arisen because of actions or inactions of these very persons. The Ganga would not die if these authorities had been active. The Uttarakhand High Court has actually harmed the Ganga by making her captive of the same persons who are responsible for her decline.
It’s our humble request to Mr Narendra Modi Ji to move an application before the Uttarakhand High Court to give the power to represent the Ganga to those non-Government people who are actually working for conservation of Ganga so that effective representation can be made.
