Holding

The Supreme Court upheld the petition and directed comprehensive measures to prevent further environmental degradation of Nainital, including bans on certain constructions, restrictions on heavy vehicles, and making illegal tree felling cognizable.

Summary

Dr. Ajay Singh Rawat, a member of the Nainital Bachao Samiti, filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking directions to curb severe environmental degradation in Nainital caused by water, air, noise and other forms of pollution. The Supreme Court appointed a commissioner to investigate issues such as illegal construction in the lake catchment, deterioration of the Ballia Ravine, illegal felling of trees, sewage discharge into the lake, and heavy vehicular traffic. The commissioner’s report confirmed rampant illegal construction, siltation of the lake, polluted water from human and animal waste, and a fragile Ballia Ravine threatened by landslides. Relying on the right to life under Article 21, the Court held that immediate remedial measures were necessary and issued detailed directions, including banning multi‑storeyed group housing, prohibiting heavy vehicles on the Mall Road, making illegal felling of trees a cognizable offence, and establishing a monitoring committee. The Court also ordered that sewage water be prevented from entering the lake, that drains be kept clear of construction debris, and that horse dung be kept away from the lake. The petition was disposed of with these directions, emphasizing the need for swift action to restore Nainital’s environment.

Issues considered

Whether the state’s failure to control pollution in Nainital violates the fundamental right to life under Article 21.
Whether the Supreme Court can issue specific remedial directions, including bans on construction and vehicular traffic, to protect the environment.
Whether illegal felling of trees should be made a cognizable offence under existing environmental statutes.
Whether a monitoring committee can be constituted by the Court to oversee implementation of environmental safeguards.

Subjects

environmental lawpollutionwater pollutionair pollutionnoise pollutionforest conservationpublic interest litigationArticle 21Article 32NainitalSupreme Court directions

Judgment

" -

A DR. AJAY SINGH RA WAT
v.
~
UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS

MARCH 9, 1995

B (A.M. AHMADI C.J., B.L. HANSARIA AND S.C. SEN, JJ.)

Environment Pollution-Nainital-Suffocation and pollution due to
water, air, noise et~Saving of-Direction issued. --+-_
--~
c petitionTheseeking
petitioner, a member of "Nainital Bachao Samiti", tiled a writ
directions to prevent suffocating of Nainital due to polio- ,
tion i.e. water, air, noise etc. ~
f
It was submitted that the Department of Tourism and Environment
of the U.P. Government has organised 'Save Nainital Workshop' in Sep-
D tember, 1989. Papers were presented on different aspects· highlighting
sudden rise in pollution and that the sources of pollution were mentioned
in the booklet "One hundred and fifty years of Nainital".

By an order dated 14.7.1994 of this Court, a Commissioner for local
inspection was required to be appointed by the District Judge, Nainital to
E give report on the sources of pollution.

The Commissioner made certain recommendations which were con-
sidered by this Court.

. - Disposing of the writ petition, this court gave following directions •
F
1. Sewage water has to be prevented from entering the lake.
"'>
2. Building materials are not to be allowed to be heaped on the drains
to. Prevent siltation of the lake.
\ .
G 3. To examine whether trotting of horses around the lake is required
to be prevented.
; ~
4. Multy-storeyed group housing and commercial complexes have to
be banned in town area. Buildi~g of small residential houses or flats could
H be permitted.
632
DR.A.S.RAWATv. U.0.1.[HANSARIA,J.) 633

5. The off~nce of illegal felling of trees is required to be made A
cognizable.

6. Vehicular traffic on the mall has to be reduced. Heavy Vehicles
may not be permitted.

7. The fragile nature of Ballia Ravine has to be taken care of. The B
cracks in the revetments of Ballia Nala have to be repaired urgently.

,,. (636-H, 637-A-D)
8. A monitoring committee may be constituted for this purpose and
it shall hold its meeting, once a month initially and later once in two
months. (637-E) C

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition No. 694 of
1993

(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.)
D
J.S. Attri, Pradeep Misra, Randhir Jain, Ashok K. Srivastava, C.V.S.
Rao and R. Narasimhan for the appearing parties.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

HANSARIA, J. Nainital, a beautiful butterfly, is said to be turning E
into an ugly caterpillar. According to the petitioner, this is due to: (1) water
pollution; (2) air pollution; (3) noise pollution; and (4) "VIP pollution".
This has naturally caused concern to all natural lovers and environmen-
talists, apart from the enlightened resident of Nainital. The concern has
been felt to such an extent that a 'Save Nainital Workshop' was organised
by none else than the Department of Tourism and Environment of the U .P. F
Government in September, 1989. In this workshop many papers were
presented on different aspects highlighting sudden rise in vehicle traffic,
illegal construction, encroachment and squatting, clustering, noise pollu-
tion, vanishing greenery resulting in land slides on Cheena Peak, main-
tenance of drains and pollution in the lake which has virtually become a G
dumping ground for rubble and public sewage. Despite organising of such
a workshop, nothing much seems to have been done to preserve the pristine
beauty of Nainital. Hence, by this petition Dr. Rawat, who is a member of
social action group called 'Nainital Bachao Samiti', has approached this
Court seeking its assistance to pass such orders and give such directions
as would prevent further pollution of already suffocating Nainital. H
634 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1995] 2 S.C.R.

A 2. The environmental degradation has taken place, inter alia, because
of increase in pollution, over-grazing, lopping and hacking of oak forests,
forests fires, land slides, quarrying etc. The pollution in the lake is because
of both inorganic and organic causes. The nearby minerals, namely, man-
ganese, lead salts, copper cobalt and zinc make the lake life toxic. The
discharge of waste water in the lake is another polluting factor. But the
B most potent source of pollution is, as mentioned in the booklet "One
Hundred an.cl Fifty Years of Nainital", whose co- author is none else than
the petitioner (the other author· being one Deepak Singhal, who at the
relevant time was District Magistrate, Nainital) "human faeces from leaking
sewers". (Page 51). The throwing of plastic bags and dumping of other
C material have added to the throes of the lake. The growing traffic, with the
growth of the town and big turn out of tourists, has contributed much to
the environmental pollution. The increased traffic has in its wake brought
noise pollution. The petitioner has said something about "VIP pollution"
also.

D 3. By an order dated 14.7.1994, this Court had felt it fit, after having
gone through the petition, to appoint a Commissioner for local inspection
and to give report on the following points :

"(i) Whether construction of buildings in catchment area ofNaini-
tal lake is still going on.
E
(ii) Whether ballia Ravine through which the outflow of the
nainital lake water passes during the rains is in a dilapidated
condition and on a fragile base.

(iii) Whether hill cutting and destruction of forest is going on in
F catchment area of lake and in Naini Hill especially due to .
construction of buildings.

(iv) Whether water of lake is being polluted by human waste,
horse dung and other wastes.
G
(v) Whether heavy vehicles ply on the Mall Road, bridle paths
on the hill sides and other vehicles ply on Bara Bazar and
Talli Tai Bazar."

4. The District Judge, Nainital, was directed to appoint an advocate
JI of that court as a Commissioner. He appointed Shri P.C. Pande, who
DR. AS. RAWAT v. U.O.I. [HANSARIA,J.) 635

submitted his report on 2.9.94. A perusal of that report shows that on local A
inspection it was found that the lake has turned dark green with an oily
surface and is now full of dirt, human faeces, horse dung, paper-polythene
bags and all sorts of other waste. Most of the sewer lines which leak,
ultimately disgorge the faecal matter into the l<!ke through the drains which
open into it. The Commissioner also found th~t wherever the drains open
at the shores of the lake, big heaps of rubble used in construction of the B
buildings are collected and these materials ultimately settle down on the
shores of the lake thereby reducing the length, depth and width of the lake,
besides polluting the water to a great extent. It has been mentioned in the
report that ecologists feel that if nothing was done to prevent this siltation
then the lake will dry up. c
5. On the five questions required to be examined by the Commis-
sioner, which have been noted above, his fmdings are as below:-

(i) Construction of buildings is going on unauthorisedly and in a big
way. The Commissioner has mentioned about illegal construction of office D
even by Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam of the State Government and Lake
Development Authority, which constructed several triple-storeyed flats
which have been declared as dangerous.

(ii) The Ballia Ravine was found to be in a very dilapidated condi- E
tion. The importance of the Ravine from ecological point of view is that
the over flow of the water from the lake passes through it. But the
revetment walls of the Nala have either given way or cracked at several
places because of which the water seeps in the rocky wall endangering its
existence. The point where Ballia Nala enters Ballia Ravine was found to
be in shambles, as large cracks had developed owing to land slides and F
continuous soil erosion. In the year 1989 there was a big land slide causing
death of 28 persons. The main cause of the land slides has been attributed
to the blasting and felling of trees which was done to construct a motor
road. Plying of heavy vehicles is said to be endangering the fragile hill
slopes.
G
(iii) Hill cutting and destruction of forests have been confirmed. The
collusion of Forest Department officers has been mentioned as one of the
causes of the illegal felling of trees. It has been stated that the forest
offence is compoundable and the maximum compounding penalty is Rs.
5000, whereas the approximate value of the illegally cut trees varies be- H
,_
636 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1995] 2 S.C.R.

A tween Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 25,000 depending upon the quality of the tree.
As a person becomes owner of the tree after payment of the penalty, this
has increased tree felling.

(iv) The lake water was found full of human waste and horse dung
and other wastes, as already noted. The horse stand having been allowed
B to be erected near the lake and trotting around the lake being permissible,
the report states that horse dung in abundance enters and reaches the lake.
The tourists who enjoy boating in the lake throw left over edibles and
polythene-bags in the lake.

(v) The report state;s about plying of heavy vehicles like buses on the
C Mall Road and the bridle paths. They also enter Malli Tall and Talli Tai
Bazars.

6. The Commissioner has made certain recommendations, of which
the following deserve to be noted :-
D (i) Group housing and commercial complexes should be banned
absolutely with immediate effect. Only small houses in flat areas, where
there is no hill cutting or felling of trees, should be allowed for residential
purposes.

E (ii) Heavy vehicles must be banned on the Mall Road and bridle
paths.

(iii) Immediate steps must be taken on a war footing to stabilize the
Ballia Ravine and Ballia Nala.

F (iv) Lake must be cleaned and prevented from further pollution, for
which purposes drains entering the lake must be maintained and the horses
must not be permitted to go around the lake.

(v) Felling of trees should be made cognizable offence.

G 1. We have duly considered the findings of the Commissioner and
his recommendations. According to us, there cannot be two opinions about
some preventive and remedial measures to be taken on war footing, as any _;>t.
delay would cause further degradation and complicate the matters. In our
considered view, the following steps deserve to be taken urgently :-

H (i) Sewage water has to be prevented at any cost from entering the
DR.AS. RAWAT v. U.0.1.(HANSARIA,J.] 637

lake. A
(ii) Sofaras the drains which ultimately fall in the lake are concerned,
it has to be seen that building materials are not allowed to be heaped on
the drains to prevent siltation of the lake.

(iii) Care has been taken to see that horse dung does not reach the B
lake. If for this purpose the horse stand has to be shifted somewhere, the
same would be done. The authorities would examine whether trotting of
horses around the lake is also required to be prevented.

(iv) Multi-storeyed group housing and commercial complexes have
to be banned in the town area of Nainital. Building of small residential C
houses on flat areas could, however, be permitted.

(v) The offence of illegal felling of trees is required to be made
cognizable.
D
(vi) Vehiclular traffic on the M.all has to be reduced. Heavy vehicles
•~ may not permitted to ply on Mall.

(vii) The fragile nature of Ballia Ravine has to be taken care of. The
cracks in the revetment of Ballia Nala have to be repaired urgently.
E
8. We do hope that all concerned would take concerted steps. For
this purpose, a monitoring committee, with one highly placed official of
each of the concerned authorities/department, may be constituted. 2 or 3
leading men of the public having interest in the matter, like the petitioner,
may be co-opted in the Committee. The Committee may hold its meeting,
to start with every month, and then every two months. F

/
9. The petition is disposed of with the aforesaid directions and
observations.

10. We part with the hope that the.butterfly would regam its beauty G
and.would attract tourists not only in praesenti but in future as well, which
would happen if the beauty would remain unsoiled. Given the will, it is not
a difficult task to be achieved; the way would lay itself out. Let all
concerned try and try hard. Today is the time to act; tomorrow may be late.

R.S. Petition disposed of. H