Environmental Protection Is Constitutional Imperative: Supreme Court Constitutes High-Level Committee Over Jojari River Pollution

The Supreme Court has constituted a High-Level Ecosystem Oversight Committee in view of the pollution in Jojari River of Rajasthan.

The Court took suo-motu cognizance of the pollution in important rivers in western Rajasthan at peril which has put the lives of 2 million people, animals, and ecosystem at risk.

The two-Judge Bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta observed, “Taken together, the principles emerging from the foregoing judgments establish beyond doubt that environmental protection is not a matter of administrative choice but a constitutional imperative. This Court has consistently affirmed that the right to life under Article 21 includes the right to a clean, healthy and ecologically balanced environment; that Articles 47 and 48A impose a substantive obligation upon the State to safeguard public health and protect the environment; and that Article 51A(g) casts a corresponding duty upon every citizen to preserve and improve the natural environment.”

The Bench said that the jurisprudence of the Court articulates a coherent doctrinal framework in which environmental rights are recognised as integral to human dignity and sustainable development.

Additional Advocate General (AAG) Shiv Mangal Sharma appeared on behalf of the State of Rajasthan.

Background

The concerned rivers are ‘Jojari’ which passes through Jodhpur, the second largest city of Rajasthan; ‘Bandi’ which passes through city Pali; and ‘Luni’ which passes through Balotra with the latter two being hubs of dyeing printing industry. Rivers ‘Bandi’ and ‘Jojari’ merge into river ‘Luni’ somewhere near Balotra city. The Apex Court on September 16, 2025 took suo motu cognizance of a news documentary highlighting the grave environmental catastrophe in the Jojari River region. The documentary titled “2 Million Lives at Risk | India’s Deadliest River | Marudhara | Jojari | Rajasthan” exposed alarming levels of industrial pollution, governance failures, and severe public health consequences affecting nearly two million residents across several districts of Rajasthan.

By an Order, the Court sought response from the State of Rajasthan. Thereafter, when the matter came up for hearing on October 9, 2025, the Court broadened the horizon and considered the same issue of pollution in rivers Bandi and Luni in addition to Jojari. The Court noted multiple earlier proceedings before the Rajasthan High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Principal Bench, New Delhi culminating in detailed monitoring committee reports and comprehensive directions issued by the NGT vide final order. Accordingly, the Registry was directed to place the papers before Chief Justice of India (CJI) to seek a direction for analogous hearing of all the with the Suo Motu Writ Petition.

Court’s Observations

The Supreme Court in the above context of the case, emphasised, “… where environmental degradation threatens life, health and ecological balance, the State must act with urgency, competence and foresight, and constitutional courts are duty-bound to intervene when such obligations are not met.”

The Court noted that the contamination of the rivers system has caused profound and multi-dimensional harm to the people, ecology and economy of the region.

“What were once seasonal rivers sustaining agriculture, wildlife and village life have, over the years, turned into conduits for untreated industrial effluents and municipal sewage. The pollution has permeated soil and groundwater, rendering agricultural lands unproductive, polluting wells and handpumps, and depriving entire communities of access to safe drinking water”, it remarked.

The Court said that livestock, on which thousands of families depend, has suffered extensive morbidity and mortality and the disappearance of local fauna and the degradation of riverine ecology bear testimony to the scale of environmental injury.

“These harms are not speculative or remote; they are immediate, continuing and borne daily by residents whose health, livelihoods and dignity have been compromised for nearly two decades”, it added.

The Court was of the view that the State Government could have continued with the process of checking the flow of untreated effluents into the river system and if at all there was any genuine grievance of Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd. (RIICO) or the concerned authorities, they should have made an effort to seek modification or clarification of the order.

“However, utter apathy prevailed, and the stay granted by this Court was used as an excuse to sit idle and allow the devastation to continue unabated. It is only after this Court initiated suo moto proceedings in September, 2025 that the State machinery has woken up and claims to have initiated some enforcement measures. The protracted inaction that preceded these steps has allowed the pollution to deepen and spread, thereby aggravating the harm to millions of citizens. We find that the efforts so initiated touch only the tip of the iceberg”, it observed.

The Court further noted that the river system in its present state continues to threaten public health, undermine agricultural sustenance, and contaminate natural resources that form the backbone of ecology and life in the region and environmental injury of this magnitude cannot be reversed by knee jerk reactions, incremental compliances or symbolic enforcement.

Constitution of the High-Level Ecosystem Oversight Committee

The Court was of the opinion that in view of the long-standing environmental degradation, the prolonged administrative inaction and the urgent need for a coordinated, scientifically informed and accountable institutional mechanism enabling the Court to oversee the restoration of the river system, a dedicated fact-finding, monitoring and implementation body must now be constituted.

“Accordingly, to detect the fundamental maladies in the system, to supervise the remedial measures required to arrest further pollution and to give long term suggestions for reversal of the damage already caused, we deem it appropriate to constitute a High-Level Ecosystem Oversight Committee”, it directed.

Terms of Reference

The Court further directed that the High-Level Ecosystem Oversight Committee shall operate with the following broad Terms of Reference –

A. The Committee shall oversee and ensure full, faithful and time-bound implementation of the directions contained in the National Green Tribunal’s final order dated 25th February, 2022, including those issued based on the recommendations of the Justice P.C. Tatia Committee.

B. The Committee shall prepare a scientifically grounded, time-bound River Restoration and Rejuvenation Blueprint for the river system that includes Rivers Jojari, Luni and Bandi and formulate a comprehensive plan for its execution in coordination with the State Government and concerned authorities/agencies.

C. In order to accurately map the sources of pollution, the Committee may conduct a comprehensive on ground survey of every discharge point, pipeline, drain, channel or outlet that leads into the Jojari, Bandi or Luni rivers or any of their tributaries.

D. The Committee may, with the assistance of suitable expert bodies, examine the feasibility of making all existing SCADA meters fully online and integrated into a common monitoring dashboard to enable effective and continuous oversight and real time data monitoring of discharge of industrial effluents.

E. The Committee may schedule and conduct audits including surprise checks of the CETPs, STPs, oxidation ponds, drainage systems, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) units and industrial primary treatment plants at appropriate intervals.

F. The performance audits of Common Effluents Treatment Plants (CETPs) and Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) undertaken by educational institutions engaged by the State of Rajasthan shall be submitted to the Committee, which shall examine the findings, direct remedial measures and ensure that deficiencies identified in the audits are rectified without delay.

G. All action plans, technical reports, feasibility studies and remedial proposals prepared by IIT Jodhpur, MNIT Jaipur, MBM Engineering College, BITS Pilani or any other institution engaged by the State shall be placed before the Committee.

H. The Committee shall assess the existing treatment capacity vis-à-vis actual industrial and municipal discharge and prepare a time bound infrastructural augmentation plan.

I. The Committee shall identify officials, authorities or industries/industrial units responsible for non-compliance or dereliction of their obligations.

J. The Committee shall ensure that RSPCB publishes quarterly water quality data and that periodic engagement is undertaken with affected Gram Panchayats and local communities to integrate ground-level feedback into enforcement mechanisms.

K. The Committee shall have full authority to call for records, issue directions to State and local bodies, seek technical assistance from national institutions including but not limited to National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CISR-NEERI) and ensure strict implementation of all environmental safeguards.

L. The Committee shall also be at liberty to examine and address all such matters as may be incidental, ancillary or consequential to the aforesaid Terms of Reference.

Conclusion and Directions

Moreover, the Court directed that the State Government shall bear all financial and logistical requirements of the Committee, including the payment of honorarium and operational expenses.

“The High-Level Ecosystem Oversight Committee shall submit its first status report to this Court within eight weeks from today and thereafter every eight weeks until further orders”, it also ordered.

The Court reiterated that the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution includes the right to clean water, unpolluted air, a healthy environment, and conditions conducive to human dignity.

“The State and all concerned authorities shall act with the seriousness that the constitutional guarantee of life and health demands, ensuring that the environmental integrity of the region is restored and protected for present and future generations”, it concluded.

Accordingly, the Apex Court directed the AAG to communicate the copy of the Order to all the concerned authorities/corporations.

Cause Title- In Re: 2 Million Lives At Risk, Contamination In Jojari River, Rajasthan (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 1341)

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