Uttarakhand (India) High Court Case: Miglani vs. State of Uttarakhand

Summary

In March 2017, the Uttarakhand High Court ruled that the Gangotri and Yamunotri Glaciers are accorded legal personhood with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person. The judgement states “the rights of these legal entities shall be equivalent to the rights of human beings and the injury/harm caused to these bodies shall be treated as harm/injury caused to the human beings.” (p. 65)

The writ petition was filed before the Uttarakhand High Court in 2015 concerning a lack of action by governmental authorities to prevent pollution in the Ganga river. The petitioner asked for the Himalayas, glaciers, streams, water bodies, etc. to be declared as “legal entities as juristic persons at par with pious rivers Ganga and Yamuna.” (p. 2)

Legal Ruling
The court stated that “besides our constitutional and legal duties, it is our moral duty to protect the environment and ecology.” (p. 59) and these natural entities are “required to be declared as the legal entity/legal person/juristic person/ juridicial person/moral person/artificial person for their survival, safety, sustenance and resurgence.” (p. 63)

Rivers and Lakes have intrinsic right not to be polluted. Polluting and damaging the rivers, forests, lakes, water bodies, air and glaciers will be legally equivalent to harming, hurting and causing injury to person. Rivers, Forests, Lakes, Water Bodies, Air, Glaciers and Springs have a right to exist, persist, maintain, sustain and regenerate their own vital ecology system. The rivers are not just water bodies. These are scientifically and biologically living. The rivers, forests, lakes, water bodies, air, glaciers, human life are unified and are indivisible whole. The integrity of the rivers is required to be maintained from Glaciers to Ocean. However, we would hasten to observe that the local inhabitants living on the banks of rivers, lakes and whose lives are linked with rivers and lakes must have their voice too. The rivers sustained the aquatic life. The flora and fauna are also dependent on the rivers.

Rivers are grasping for breath. We must recognize and bestow the Constitutional legal rights to the ‘Mother Earth’. The very existence of the rivers, forests, lakes, water bodies, air and glaciers is at stake due to global warming, climate change and pollution. (p. 61)

“We, by invoking our parens patriae jurisdiction, declare the Glaciers including Gangotri & Yamunotri, rivers, streams, rivulets, lakes, air, meadows, dales, jungles, forests wetlands, grasslands, springs and waterfalls, legal entity/legal person/juristic person/juridicial person/moral person/artificial person having the status of a legal person, with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person, in order to preserve and conserve them. They are also accorded the rights akin to fundamental rights/legal rights.” (p. 64)

The court ordered a group of government officials, legal advisors, and academics be declared the persons in loco parentis as the human face to protect, conserve and preserve all the Glaciers and water bodies in the State of Uttarakhand. These Officers are bound to uphold the status of these bodies and also to promote their health and well being.

The high courts of India are the highest courts of jurisdiction in each state and union territory of India. All courts in India, including high courts, are bound by the judgements and orders of the Supreme Court of India.

Ecological Context
Gangotri and Yamunotri Glaciers are situated in the high Himalayan terrain of the northwest corner of the State of Uttarakhand. The district contains the sacred sources of the Ganga River at Gangotri Glacier and the Yamuna River at Yamunotri Glacier. Gangotri is one of the largest Glaciers in the Himalyas, but has been receding since 1780. According to NASA images over the last 25 years, Gangotri glacier has retreated more than 850 meters, with a recession of 76 meters from 1996 to 1999 alone. Both glaciers are receding at high rates due to pollution and climate change. (p. 5-6)