SC stays order granting human status to Ganga, Yamuna

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Uttarakhand High Court order granting the status of ‘living human entities’ to the Ganga and the Yamuna.

A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud passed the order on a special leave petition filed by the Uttarakhand government against the high court's March 20 judgement, which said, “Holy rivers Ganga and Yamuna have been declared to be treated as living human entities.”

The high court verdict had come on the basis of a PIL by Haridwar resident Mohammad Salim over mining and stone crushing along the banks of the Ganga.

The high court had also ordered the Dehradun District Magistrate to remove encroachments from the Shakti canal of the Ganga at Dhakrani within 72 hours, failing which the district magistrate would be suspended.

Giving the “legal status” of living humans to the holy rivers, the court had ordered the director of Namami Gange Project to clean and rejuvenate the river.

The chief secretary and the advocate general of Uttarakhand will act as "legal parents" of the holy rivers and work as a human face to protect, conserve and preserve them and their tributaries.

These officers will be bound to "uphold the status" of the two rivers and also promote their "health and well-being", the high court had said.

It had also directed the government to form a Ganga Management Board in accordance with an earlier order of the court in December 2016.