GANGA,YAMUNA
TERMED”LIVING PERSONS”
In a first in the country, the
Uttarakhand High Court, on Monday, declared that the rivers Ganga and Yamuna
were “living persons.On March 15, New Zealand river Whanganui became the first
in the world to be granted a legal human status.Five days later, the Division
Bench comprising Justice Alok Singh and Justice Rajiv Sharma, while hearing a
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by one Mohammad Salim in 2014,
gave a landmark judgment stating that the Ganga and the Yamuna must be treated
as living entities.“…to protect the recognition and the faith of society,
rivers Ganga and Yamuna are required to be declared as legal persons [or]
living persons,” stated the court order.
“The Ganga and [the] Yamuna, all their
tributaries, streams… are declared as juristic [or] legal persons [or] living
entities having the status of a legal person with all corresponding rights,
duties and liabilities of a living person in order to preserve and conserve
river Ganga and Yamuna,” it added. The two rivers, which are sacred for the
Hindus, sustain millions of people in the country.However, they have been in a
state of neglect and even though several government initiatives, including the
Centre’s Namami Gange programme, are aimed at restoring their health, not much
has been achieved yet.The court ordered that the Director of the Namami Gange
programme, the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, and the Advocate-General of
Uttarakhand would serve as “parents” for the rivers and would be the human
faces to “protect, conserve and preserve” the rivers and their tributaries.
Prof. John Kurakar
No comments:
Post a Comment