Supreme Court of India
M.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS.versusUNION OF INDIA & ORS.
- Citation
- 2009 INSC 630
- Decided
- 28 April 2009
- Disposal
- Hearing Adjourned
Holding
The Court held that the right to water is part of the right to life under Article 21 and directed the Central Government to form a Committee to address water shortage through scientific research.
Summary
The petitioners raised a writ under Article 21 of the Constitution, contending that the chronic shortage of water for drinking and irrigation violated the fundamental right to life. The Court examined precedents that recognized water as an essential component of the right to life, including Delhi Water Supply & Sewage Disposal Undertaking v. State of Haryana and Chameli Singh v. State of U.P. The judges held that the right to water is integral to Article 21 and that the State has a duty to ensure its availability. Consequently, the Court directed the Central Government to constitute a high‑level Committee, chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Science & Technology, to undertake scientific research on a war footing to address water scarcity. The Committee was tasked with exploring inexpensive desalination, rain‑water harvesting, wastewater treatment, and wet‑land preservation, and was to report progress bi‑monthly. The Court also ordered that the matter be listed periodically for monitoring, effectively granting the relief sought in the petition.
Issues considered
- Whether the right to water is encompassed within the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
- Whether the Court can issue a directive to the Central Government to constitute a Committee for scientific research on water shortage.
Legislation cited
- Constitution of Indias. Article 21
Subjects
right to lifewater shortageArticle 21environmental lawpublic healthscientific researchgovernment directive
Judgment
[2009] 6 S.C.R. 1178
A M.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS.
v.
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
(Writ Petition (C) No. 230 of 2001)
APRIL 28, 2009
B
[MARKANDEY KATJU AND H.L. DATTU, JJ.]
•
WATER:
Water shortage - Held: Without water, there can be no
c life - Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees the
right to life to all persons living in India - There. is shortage
of water in the country for irrigation and drinking.purpose:-'
Central Government would forthwith constitute a committee to
address the problems in this regard referred to in this Court's
D order dated 26-3-2009* which shall do scientific research on
a war footing for solving the water shortage in the country - In
particular, the Committee would do scientific research to find
out inexpensive methods of converting saline water into fresh
water, harnessing and managing rain water and flood waters,
E rain water harvesting, treatment of waste water into potable
water, protection and preservation of wet lands etc. - The Court
would monitor the case from time to time - Therefore, the
matter would be listed on second Tuesday of every alternate
i
month on which date progress report would be submitted by
F Chairman of the Committee - Constitution of India, 1950 -
Article 21.
*State of Orissa v. Govrnment of India & Anr. 2009
SCR 992; Delhi Water Supply & Sewage Disposal
Undertaking and Anr. v. State of Haryana and Ors. 1996 (2)
SCC 572 and Chame/i Singh & Ors. v. State of U.P. & Ors.
G
1996 (2j sec 549, referred to.
Case Law Reference:
2009 SCR 992 referred to Para 7
1996 (2) sec 572 referred to Para 7
H 1178
M.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA &1179
ORS.
1996 (2) sec 549 referred to Para 7 A
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition No. 230
of 2001.
Under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
Parag P. Tripathi, ASG, Dr. Manish Singhvi, Manjit Singh, B
MG, S.R. Singh, T.S. Doabia, Shyam Divan, Dr. Rajiv Divan,
V. Krishna Murthy, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Radhakrishna
Kumar, Naresh Kurnar, S.W. Faqidi (for Anuvrat Sharma), Anil
Kr. Jha, Sunita Sharma (for B.V. Balaram Das) Riku Sarma
(for Ranjan Mazumdar) (for M/s. Corporate Law Group), Avijit C
Bhattacharjee, Subrata Biswas, Rani Mishra (for Kamini
Jaiswal), Hemantika Wahi, Pinky Behera, K. Enatoli Serna,
Radha Shyam Jena, Naresh K. Sharma, Aruna Mathur, Vimal
Dubay (for M/s. Arputham Aruna & Co.) Khwairakpam Nobin
Singh, Ritu Raj Biswas, Manish Kumar (for Gopal Singh),
Vikrant Singh Bais (for Vibha Datta Makhija), Milind Kumar, D
R.S. Suri, Anjan Chkarborthy, Anana Sukumar, Neel Kamal
Dev Nath, Ranjan Mukherjee, Sumita Hazarika, R. Ayyam
Perumal, Ritu Raj (for Anil Shrivastav), K. N. Madhusoodhanan
(for M.K. Michael), R. Nedumaran, V.G. Pragasam, S.J.
Aristotle, Prabu Rama Subramanian, P.V. Dinesh, Tabrez E
Ahmad (for Anis Suhrawardy), Sanjay R. Hedge, Edward
Belho, P. Athuimei R. Naga, Vekiulie N. Kera, A. Subhashini,
Manoj Saxena, Rajnish K. Singh, Rahul Shukla, Arun R.
Pednekar, Danjay V. Kharde (for Asha G. Nair), T. Harish
Kumar, V. Vasudevan, Harikesh Singh (for Kamal Mohan F
Gupta), T.A. Khan, Arti Gupta (for D.A. Mahra) for the
appearing parties.
The following Order of the Court was delivered :
ORDER
G
1. On 26th March, 2009 we had passed a detailed order
relating to the problem of water shortage in our country and we
had issued notice to the Secretary, Ministry of Science &
Technology asking him to file a counter affidavit within four
weeks stating what measures have been taken to solve the H
1180 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 6 S.C.R.
A water problem in the country and for implementing the
recommendations given by one of us (Hon'ble Mr. Justice
Markandey Katju) in the decision in State of Orissa v.
Government of India & another JT 2009(2) SC 233.
2. Despite having immense reservoirs of water in the form
B of the Himalayas in the North and the Arabian sea, Indian
Ocean and the Bay of Bengal in the West, South and East of
India, there are water shortages everywhere often· leading to
riots, road blocks and other disturbances and disputes for
getting water. In many cities, in many colonies people get water
C for half an hour in a day, and sometimes not even that e.g. in
Delhi, South India, Rajasthan, U.P., Madhya Pradesh, Orissa,
Maharashtra, Northeast, etc .. In large parts of rural areas there
is shortage of water for irrigation and drinking purpose. Rivers
in India are drying up, ground water is being rapidly depleted,
o and canals are polluted. The Yamuna in Delhi looks like a black
drain. Several perennial rivers like the Ganga and Brahamputra
are rapidly becoming seasonal. Rivers are dying or declining,
and aquifers are getting over-pumped. Industries, hotels, etc.
are pumping out groundwater at an alarming rate, causing
E sharp decline in the groundwater levels. Farmers are having a
hard time finding ground water for their crops e.g. in Punjab. In
many places there are serpentine queues of exhausted
housewives waiting for hours to fill their buckets of water. In this
connection John Briscoe has authored a detailed World Bank
F report, in which he has mentioned that despite this alarming
situation there is widespread complacency on the part of the
authorities in India.
3. In our opinion it is science alone which can solve this
problem ( as well as the other gigantic problems facing the
G country).
4. India has a strong heritage of science. With the aid of
science we had built mighty civilizations thousands of years ago
when most people in Europe (except in Greece and Rome)
were living in forests. We had made outstanding scientific
H discoveries and inventions in the past (see Will Durants' 'The
M.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA &1181
ORS.
' Story of Civilization : Our Oriental Heritage). However, we A
subsequently took to the unscientific path of superstitions and
empty rituals, which has led us to disaster. The way out
therefore for our nation is to once again turn to the scientific
path shown by our ancestors - the path of Aryabhatta and
Brahmagupta, Sushrut and Charak, Ramanujan and Raman. B
5. It is indeed sad that a country like India which
scientifically solved the problem of town planning 6000 years
ago in the Indus Valley Civilization and which discovered the
decimal system in Mathematics and Plastic Surgery in
Medicine in ancient times, and is largely managing Silicon c
Valley in U.S.A. today has been unable to solve the problem
of water shortage till now. In our opinion there is no dearth of
eminent scientists in the field who can solve this problem, bµt
they have not been organized and brought together and not,
been requested by the Central and State Governments to do. D
their patriotic and sacred duty to solve this problem, nor given
' the facilities for this.
(? .. In our opinion the right to get water is a part of the right
to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. In this
connection, it has been observed by the Court in Delhi Water E
Supply & Sewage Disposal Undertaking and Anr. v. State of
Haryana and Ors. 1996(2) SCC 572 :
"Water is a gift of nature. Human hand cannot be
'f
permitted to convert this bounty into a curse, an
oppression. The primary use to which water is put being F
drinking, it would be mocking nature to force the people
who live on the bank of a river to remain thirsty" ..........
7. Similarly in Chameli Singh & Ors. v. State of U.P. &
Ors. 1996(2) SCC 549 this Court observed :
"......... .Right to live guaranteed in any civilized society G
implies the right to food, water, decent environment,
education, medical care and shelter. These are basic
human rights known to any civilized society. All civil,
political, social and cultural rights enshrined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Convention or H
1182 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 6 S.C.R.
A under the Constitution of India cannot be exercised without
these basic human rights." .......... .
8. We, therefore, direct the Central government to forthwith
constitute a Committee to address the problems referred to in
our order dated 26th March, 2009 which shall do scientific
B research on a war footing for solving the water shortage in most
parts of our country because of which our people are suffering
terribly. Without water there can be no life, as the Hindi poet
Rahim wrote, and Article 21 of our Constitution guarantees the
right to life to all persons living in India.
c 9. The Central Government is, therefore, directed to form
this Committee to address the water shortage problem at the
earliest, latest within two months from today. This Committee
shall have the Secretary, Union Ministry of Science & .
Technology as its Chairman. Amongst the members of the
D Committee will be the Secretary, Union Ministry of Water
Management. The other members of the Committee will be
scientists specialized in the field of solving water shortage
problems nominated by the Chairman of the Committee and
they are requested to take help from foreign scientists
E specialized in this field. The members of the Committee should
regard this work as a patriotic duty, and the entire people of
India including N.R.ls. settled abroad should help this
Committee.
10. The Committee is directed to do scientific research
F on a war footing to solve the water shortage in the country. In
particular the Committee shall do the following:
(a) Scientific research on a war footing to find out
inexpensive methods of converting saline water into
fresh water. This will be very useful in the coastal
G states because the sea has almost an infinite
amount of water reserves and the only problem is
to find out an inexpensive methods to convert it into
fresh water. The present methods like distillation,
reverse osmosis etc. are very expensive methods
H and cannot be afforded by a poor country like India.
M.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA & 1183
ORS.
~
Hence we have to find out inexpensive methods A
and this is only possible by scientific research.
(b) Scientific research to find out methods of harnessing
and managing monsoon rain water and also to manage
the flood waters and also to do research in rain water
harvesting, and treatment of waste water so that it may be 8
recycled and available as potable water.
© Any other methods or suggestions including for
•
· matters for protection and preservation of wet·
lands and matters connected thereto.
11. This Committee should be given all the financial,
c
technical and administrative help by the Central and State
. Governments for this purpose. The Committee is requested to
do patriotic duty to the nation in this connection, and by ·
scientific research to find out the ways of solving the water
shortage problem in the country. The help and advice of foreign D
scientific experts and/or Indian scientists settled abroad who
are specialized in this field may also be taken, since the solution
to the problem will not only help India but also foreign countries
which are facing the same problem, some of which may already
have progressed significantly in this area. E
12. In our opinion, this is absolutely essential now because
the whole country is reeling under acute shortage of water as
referred to in our order dated 26th March, 2009, some details
of which have been given in the said order.
F
13. We propose to monitor this case from time to time.
For this purpose this matter will be listed on the second Tuesday
possibly of every alternative month. List again on the 11th
August, 2009, on which date a progress report will be submitted
before us by the Chairman of the Committee who is requested
to be personally present before us. Thereafter the case will be G
"· listed on the 20th October, 2009 and so on.
14. The Registry of this Court shall send a copy of this
order to the members of the Committee mentioned above.
R.P. Writ Petition adjourned. H
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