India Supreme Court Case: Salim v. State of Uttarakhand (legal personhood of Ganga and Yamuna Rivers)

Summary

In 2017, the Supreme Court of India overturned a High Court of Uttarakhand ruling that recognized the Ganga and Yamuna rivers as legal entities with rights. The ruling regards a lawsuit filed in 2014 in the High Court of Uttarakhand over illegal construction and encroachments along the Ganges River.

First Instance Ruling:
In March 2017, the High Court of Uttarakhand ruled that the Ganga and Yamuna rivers were in danger of losing their existence and were therefore extended “all corresponding rights, duties, and liabilities of a living person” to the rivers. The High Court appointed the Chief Secretary and Advocate General of Uttarakhand as the rivers’ legal custodians, and granted the two individuals standing to act on the rivers’ behalf in any legal proceeding.

The Uttarakhand High Court’s judgment referenced the deteriorating state of the rivers, recognizing that despite decades of programs like the Ganga Action Plan (1986) and National Mission for Clean Ganga (2011), pollution levels had continued to rise, and concluded that extraordinary measures were needed to preserve the rivers’ ecological and cultural integrity.

The High Court’s decision came after years of scientific and environmental data revealed the dire condition of India’s most sacred waterways. According to India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), by 2016, more than 350 million liters of untreated sewage were being discharged into the Ganges each day, and industrial effluents had rendered large stretches of the river “biologically dead.” In some areas, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels exceeded six times the permissible limit for aquatic life, while heavy metals such as chromium and lead were detected in concentrations above national safety standards.

The Ganges River and its tributary, the Yamuna, are two of India’s major rivers. The Ganges River, worshipped in Hinduism as “Ganga Mata” or mother, is a lifeline to more than 500 million people across India. In its ruling, the Court recognized that Hindus hold a “deep faith” in the two rivers and they “collectively connect with them,” stating that “the rivers are central to the existence of half of the Indian population and their health and well-being. They have provided both physical and spiritual sustenance to all of us from time immemorial.”

Supreme Court Ruling:
The state government of Uttarakhand took the case to the Supreme Court, arguing that the declaration was legally unsustainable and could expose the state to unmanageable liabilities for flooding, pollution, or accidents occurring along the rivers’ courses. In July 2017, India’s Supreme Court overturned the earlier ruling by the High Court in Uttarakhand and determined that the Ganges and Yamuna rivers could not be viewed as living entities. The federal justices noted that while the protection of the Ganges and Yamuna was of “utmost national importance,” the assignment of personhood to natural entities required legislative, not judicial, authorization.

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.

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