Centre Approaches SC Over Uttarakhand HC’s Order Declaring Ganga As 'Living Legal Entity'

HC had said Chief Secretary and the Advocate General would act as the legal parents of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.

The Centre is facing some unique administrative problems following the Uttarakhand High Court order according the status of human entity to river Ganga.

Citing this, the Centre has moved the Supreme Court citing administrative issues relating to the implementation of the order.

“The High Court order of March 20 which stated that the Chief Secretary and the Advocate General would act as the legal parents of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers”, Uttarakhand minister and state government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said.

Since the matter of cleaning the Ganga is not just restricted to Uttarakhand, as it also flows through West Bengal, how could the Chief Secretary and the Advocate General tackle all the issues related to the river, he asked.

That is why the Central government has approached the apex court on this matter, he said.

Kaushik said the state government was also a party to the petition moved in the Supreme Court.

However, he welcomed the Uttarakhand High Court's order according the status of living human entities to the Ganga and Yamuna, two of India's most sacred rivers.

Exercising extraordinary jurisdiction vested in the court, a division bench of Justices Rajeev Sharma and Alok Singh of the High Court had said, Holy rivers Ganga and Yamuna have been declared to be treated as a living human entities.

The court order came on a PIL filed by Haridwar resident Mohammad Salim, regarding the high levels of pollution and encroachment in the river and its tributaries. The matter also related to mining and stone crushing along the banks of the Ganga.