The Supreme Court on July 10 recorded that the number of wetlands in the country has expanded from 2.01 lakh to 2.31 lakh since 2017, and sought the Centre’s response on a plea to protect the enhanced wetland areas which act as a natural protection from floods.
“In Delhi alone 27 wetlands are there… None of them have been notified… Waste and garbage get dumped there… This issue is important when cities are witnessing heavy floods after rains,” senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for petitioner M.K. Balakrishnan, submitted before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.
The Bench asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, for the Centre, to take “appropriate instructions” on the plea to protect the expanded area of wetlands. The court posted the case for hearing after a week.
Ms. Bhati submitted that wetland identification and conservation had been “decentralised” after the notification of the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.
She urged the court to make the States parties in the petition.
Mr. Sankaranarayanan submitted that the increased number of wetlands was geo-mapped by Indian Space Research Organisation’s Space Application Centre and recorded in the ‘Indian Wetlands Atlas’ of 2021.
It was the Supreme Court’s nudge which had led the Centre to notify the 2017 Rules.
A February 8, 2017 order showed how the court had considered the “conservation of wetlands of immense ecological importance”.
The fact that the court was doggedly pursuing the cause is evident in its October 4, 2017 order in which it had directed the Centre to identify and inventorise the then identified 2.01 wetlands with the assistance of the State governments. The court’s intervention was meant to protect the wetlands from dumping of toxic waste, etc.
The court also took note that the number of wetlands of international significance or Ramsar sites have increased from 26 to 49. These wetlands, such as Chilka, needed special protection.
Mr. Sankaranarayanan urged the court to intervene and direct the government to extend protection to the 49 wetlands and provide wide publicity about their existence in order to prevent their destruction.
