Restoring Ecological Entity and Juristic Personality of Ganga River in India

Abstract

The water resources in India, in general, and Ganga Rivers, in particular, suffer from deterioration of water quality. The demographic rise, industrialization and urbanization led to the land and basin degradation of Ganga Rivers. The ecological entity and juristic personality of River Ganga traced from the standpoint of the legal status. In Ganga River Pollution vs State of Uttar Pradesh, Mohammed Salim vs State of Uttarakhand and Lalit Miglani v. State of Uttarakhand the Uttarakhand High Court of India realized that Rivers Ganga and the Yamuna are liquidating their identity and require remedial measures. To restore its pristine glory, the Court declared these rivers as a living entity and legal personality. It assigns a top priority of environmental governance of the river by recognizing the doctrine of loco parentis and parens patriae on the Namami Gange (Clean Ganga) inspectorate and the State of Uttarakhand for the preservation and conservation of Ganga and Yamuna rivers. The paper accounts the legal status vis-à-vis the reverence and sanctity attached to Ganga River in critical perspective.
Keyword: Ganga & Yamuna, River Ecology, Religious Sanctity, Legal Entity, Juristic Person, Parens Patriae.